Hapoel Tel Aviv got by Bnei Herzliya 95-91 ahead of their EuroCup semifinal best-of-3 series against Valencia which begins on Tuesday night in Spain. Antonio Blakeney had the hot hand early for the Reds while Jonathan Motley also scored with ease but Elijah Stewart kept the hosts in the game throughout the contest. However, Marcus Bingham, Tomer Ginat and Marcus Foster were able to keep Eitan Burg and Chris Silva at bay while Motley found key points down the stretch to hand Dimitrios Itoudis’s team the victory.

Motley scored 22 points, Foster chipped in with 17 points, Bingham added 16 points and Blakeney put in 14 points in the win. Stewart scored 28 points while Burg and Silva each scored 15 points in the loss.

“We had a good strategy and plan,” Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Dimitrios Itiudis said. “We came out strong and we went on a double digit margin in the first quarter. In the third we turned the ball over a lot and we made some poor decisions. We gave them the one court and they came back and took the lead. But we had character and we found a way to win these game. We are building character.”

“When you lose by 4 points your missing a lot,” Bnei Herzliya Head Coach Yehu Orland began. “On every play you can say there was something that we were missing, all in all our stats were fine but one place that I can say we could have been a bit better was our free throw shooting which has been very good this season but a few more could have made all the difference.”

The game MVP Jonathan Motley spoke about the win, “They are always a tough opponent and it’s tough in these small gyms, lots of energy and they played hard. We had to find a way to win these game and we have another goal coming ahead. I try to help my team win and I came out with the W. This was definitely a good preparation for Valencia and you have to respect every team.”

Daeshon Francis reflected on the loss, “We were missing a couple of stops in the fourth quarter that could have given us an edge, but we played an excellent team and we came up a bit short. It’s good to get my confidence going and I thank coach for that.”

Elijah Stewart opened the scoring for Bnei Herzliya but Antonio Blakeney started hitting one shot after the next from both the inside and outside while Jonathan Motley and Marcus Bingham also made an impact for Hapoel Tel Aviv as they grabbed a 31-19 lead after ten minutes of play.

Bingham continued to score at will to begin the second quarter, Stewart responded from the outside and Daeshon Francis scored on the inside, Marcus Foster came back with a triple for the Reds while Frederic Bourdillon and John Meeks tried to cut the lead but a Bingham dunk sent Hapoel Tel Aviv into halftime with a 51-42 advantage.

Motley filled the basket to get the third quarter off and running, Eitan Burg started to find points while Stewart also scored to tie the game up at 59-59 but Ish Wainright came back from deep and Yam Madar hit a floater to keep Dimitrios Itoudis’s team in front 67-63 after thirty minutes of action.

Francis and Chris Silva got the fourth quarter underway with baskets, Stewart dialled up long distance, Motley and Foster countered, the duo of Francis and Silva immediately came back with points as Burg nailed a corner 3-ball, Motley and Ginat helped the reds retake the lead for good as the Reds held on for the win.