Maccabi Ramat Gan punched their ticket to the Basketball Champions League Play In Round with a 94-93 win over VEF Riga as Kendale McCullum scored the decisive free throw with 8 seconds to go to seal the victory. Shmulik Brenner’s squad finished the Group Stage Round with a 3-3 record good for third place and a chance to advance to the Round of 16 if they win the best of 3 Play In Round series.

Isaiah Miles and Adam Ariel were busy early on for Maccabi Ramat Gan but Dairis Bertans and Issuf Sanon made sure that VEF Riga kept pace as Shmulik Brenner’s team held a 48-44 lead at halftime. Miles kept scoring while Roberto Gallinat and Dori Sahar found points as Kendale McCullum ran the offense to perfection but Bertans scored at will while Sanon and Harrison Cleary helped tie the game up at 93 with under a minute to go. However, a McCullum free throw with 8 seconds left gave Ramat Gan the lead for goo as they advanced to the Play In round of the competition.

Miles scored 19 points, Gallinat added 15 points and Ariel scored 13 points in the win. Bertans led all scorers with 29 points, Sanon out in 19 points and Cleary chipped in with 15 points in the loss.

“Wow! This was sweet but very difficult,” Ramat Gan Head Coach Shmulik Brenner exclaimed. “This is a great victory for us, this is a great achievement for Maccabi Ramat Gan. We were drawn into a tough group in the BCL and it wasn’t easy with all of the possible implications for us to qualify for the next stage but to do just that is a great achievement. We are very happy and excited.

“There was a lot of effort by everyone on the floor. We were able to withstand a pretty crazy run that they made and overall they went 16/32 to beyond the arc. So to be able to hold on to the win on their home court with their crowd and atmosphere this is a great achievement for us, we are very happy.”

Captain Adam Ariel added, “This is a huge victory for us! The entire team showed character and even in a somewhat difficult period during the game, we managed to straighten ourselves out and take the victory and move into the Play In. This is a historic moment for the club and we are very, very happy. We did this as a team, everyone contributed, everyone was energetic and we are all very, very thrilled.”

Hapoel Jerusalem fell to Hamburg Towers 82-80 as the shorthanded reds had trouble all game long trying to find a way to get in front of the Germans as their record fell to 7-5 on the season. Niklas Wimberg and Jared Harper traded baskets over the course of the opening quarter while Jaizec Lottie, Kur Kuath and Brae Ivey paced the hosts in the second quarter as Derek Ogbeide, Khadeen Carrington and Harper with a 3-pointer at the end of the half knotted the score up at 43-43.

Gaby Chachashvili, Tarik Phillip and Harper kept the Reds close but Jonathan Stove, Kuath and Jaizec scored for Hamburg to take the 2-point win. Harper scored 26 points and Phillip added 13 points in the loss while Lottie scored 18 points and Kuath put in 14 points in the win.

“Hapoel Jerusalem right now is a nonfunctional team,” Head Coach Yonatan Alon said. “We don’t have enough players to do almost 5 on 0 in practice and those guys came out here and gave everything they got. I think at least I’m proud of them, of course we made some mistakes obviously, we could have played better, but still I’m proud of what I got.”

Reds big man Gaby Chachashvili reflected on the tough loss, “It’s hard to find the right words, but I think all of us, everyone who is part of the Hapoel Jerusalem family, both the team, the fans and the players, have many reasons to be proud. I don’t want to make excuses, but in the end we played with eight players, seven, six, five, we even got to four, everyone gave everything they could with injuries, with pain and with things that weren’t right. This is the opportunity to tell everyone that we need you, we need you, we need you against Maccabi. We want to see you on Sunday, everyone who can come we would be very, very happy to see you. We need you with us.”