Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 80-74 as Vasilije Micic starred in the game three win to cut the yellow-and-blue best-of-five finals series lead to 2-1 with game four slated for Tuesday night back at Yad Eliyahu.

Tomer Ginat and Yam Madar paced Hapoel early on while Jaylen Hoard countered for Maccabi, but Vasilije Micic scored points a plenty and orchestrated the offense to perfection while the reds defense helped Dimitrios Itoudis’s team to a 43-36 advantage at halftime. Micic continued to control the attack in the second half, Jimmy Clark countered to cut the gap but Micic kept hitting his shots to will the reds to the victory.

Micic scored 29 points and added 10 assists, while Ish Wainright and Tai Odiase each scored 12 points in the win while Clark scored 24 points, Iffe Lundberg put in 15 points and Hoard scored 12 points in the loss.

Hapoel Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis reflected on the win, “We came into the game with a lot of motivation from our fans and we expect them to come in for game four with the goal to tie up the series. To keep Maccabi at 74 points says how much we made in terms of adjustments defensively. We had to make sure to stay composed and we built up our trust. It was a good win but we are still down a game in this’s series. The tank is full and we want to keep playing basketball. It was really helpful that we had an extra day and it allowed us to make adjustments.”

Maccabi Head Coach Oded Katash spoke about the loss, “We wanted to win this game a lot and I can’t say anything against the effort the guys put in. We didn’t execute well offensively and we didn’t think this was going to be easy, we knew who we were playing. We are also aware that we have a short rotation and because of that we had to make more substitutions as they were tiring. However, despite that we still led near the end, but this is a series and we now have to respond. It won’t be easy but we will need to come up with the energy.”

The MVP Vasilije Micić said after the game, “We knew we had to give everything and that’s what we did. It was a good performance by us. I tried to do my best and I think we had good momentum. We made good decisions and that was the difference from the previous games in the series. I’m trying to lead the team. Everyone gave everything they had, Tomer Ginat, Yam Madar, everyone contributed and it’s very important that everyone contributed and made an impact.”

Keandre Cook who made his finals debut spoke about the victory, “It was a hard fought game and went back to the drawing board, we made adjustments, executed and picked up the win. I am super proud and have a lot of abilities on the defensive end, I boxed out and we have a lot of offensive players so I’ll do what I need to do to help us get the win. We are looking at it one game at a time and anything is possible.”

Oshae Brissett talked about the loss, “We said right now that it’s not the time to be tired, we get paid to play and we are professionals, they have one day off like us and it won’t be an excuse, we will play much better on Tuesday. We had some mental lapses and there are some things that we can fix. We know we should have closed it out, but we have to make the adjustments. I want to win really bad and I know how much the fans want us to win, but we too, I love to win and winning the championship is what I’m focused on for next game.”

Tomer Ginat started off the game from deep, Roman Sorkin came back with a layup, Ish Wainright knocked down a corner 3-ball, Oshae Brissett cleaned up the boards with a dunk, Jaylen Hoard hit a jumper from the top of the key, while Yam Madar and John Dibartolomeo traded layups as Hapoel Tel Aviv took a slim 10-8 midway through the first quarter.

Ginat put in a 3-point play, Vasilije Micic drilled home a 3-pointer, Hoard and Iffe Lundberg scored, Brissett drained a triple, Hoard fed Zach Hankins for a dunk, Dibartolomeo went from deep, Madar went from the inside and outside as the reds went up 25-20 after the opening period.

Wainright scored to get the second quarter underway, Dibartolomeo responded, Micic went from deep, Lundberg put in a deuce, Tai Odiase put in a pair of baskets, Jimmy Clark went from downtown, Hoard added a bucket, Micic put in a layup and drilled home a 3-pointer as Lundberg went from deep but Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad led 43-36 at halftime.

Hoard scored to begin the third quarter, Micic answered right back, Ginat scored in the paint, Wainright and Micic both scored, Hankins put in points the other end, Clark went from deep and then put in a 3-point play to pull Maccabi to within a single point, 56-55 after thirty minutes of action.

Clark and Micic traded triples to begin the fourth quarter, Clark added a deuce and another one from deep, Madar and Wainright drilled home 3-pointers, Ginat scored in the paint, Lundberg went from downtown, Brissett put in a 3-point play, Micic knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Tai Odiase dunked to put the exclamation mark on the game three win to keep the series alive.