It took all four quarters plus a pair of overtime periods to produce a winner as Nes Ziona toppled Hapoel Jerusalem 96-87 in a game of the season candidate. The hosts once again received stellar play from their big 3, Tyler Bey, Shaq Buchanan and DJ Cooper while center Jerome Meyinsee came up with key baskets and free throws at the end of regulation time and in the extra sessions to halt the Reds 6 game Israel league streak.

Prior to the game Nes Ziona retired the jersey of one of their all time greats in Tal Dunne, a player who was known as a warrior both on and off the court which should have given all in attendance a sense of the style of game that was about to unfold.

In a back and forth affair that saw both squads give it their all with at either end of the court Buchanan led the way with 28 points, Bey added 24 points and 11 rebounds, Cooper put in 13 points, dished out 19 assists and pulled down 9 boards while Meyinsee chipped in with 15 points and 10 rebounds in the win. Khadeen Carrington paced Jerusalem with 27 points, Zach Hankins added 18 points and 17 rebounds, Levi Randolph scored 14 points and Speedy Smith scored 11 points and dished out 9 assists in the loss.

“This was a very emotional game against an excellent team who have a terrific coach. We are a team that is tough, battles and fights and we are a contender,” Nes Ziona coach Elad Hasin said.

“At the end the whole game was about one uncompleted pass,” Jerusalem coach Aleksamdar Dzikic explained. “We could’t inbound the ball and we lost, but I am proud of the guys and Nes Ziona are a very good team and hard to cover.”

The game’s MVP Shaq Buchanan looked back at the victory, “Glad it’s over after going to two overtimes. We just had to be patient and trust the team, we got pros on this team and it shows what this group is all about. We fought hard and we come to compete every day.”

It was clear from the outset that Hapoel Jerusalem was going to use their physicality in order to force Nes Ziona into mistakes but they were few and far between as the game got off to a raucous, pushing and shoving matchup with some nice baskets in between.

Or Cornelius shadowed Elad Hasin’s star point guard DJ Cooper in order to limit the floor general’s effectiveness out of the gate but that didn’t stop him from delivering four helpers to the host’s dynamic duo of Tyler Bey and Shaq Buchanan. However, Levi Randolph paced the Reds and Khadeen Carrington hit a triple at the end of the first quarter to even up the game at 20-20 after ten minutes of play.

As the on court battle continued, tempers began to flare as Cornelius and Bey each received technical fouls early on in the second quarter to calm the waters which allowed Oz Blayzer some room from deep as he dialed up long distance to give Aleksandar Dzikic’s squad a 35-27 lead midway through the period. But the rough and tumble play soon resumed as both sides saw bodies flailing away all over the floor, however, Zach Hankins put down a statement dunk and added more points inside to keep Jerusalem in front 46-39 at halftime.

The 15 minute halftime didn’t cool anything off as Hankins got to work inside for the visitors and Buchanan put down a mega dunk for a 3-point play and added another trio of points on an and-1, while Bey also powered home points to get to within a point, 48-47. The Reds came back with triples by Randolph and Cornelius plus inside buckets from an active Hankins but Buchanan came back with am off balance 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter to keep Elad Hasin’s squad within striking distance of Jerusalem, down 63-57.

The playoff like atmosphere and intensity carried over into the fourth quarter as the teams fought tooth and nail for every point as Bey started to heat up with baskets on the inside and outside as Jerome Meyinsee also scored a pair from midrange to knot things all up at 69-69 with 5:19 left in regulation time. Hankins pounded home a dunk, Carrington added a deuce, but Golan Gutt was able to evade his defender to go from deep and Buchanan scored off the break to snatch the 74-73 with under a minute remaining.

However, Carrington put in a layup to take a 1-point lead as the game looked to be in the bag but Jerusalem turned the ball over on an inbounds play which resulted in Meyinsee being fouled with .7 seconds left and a chance to win it from the line. But the center went 1 for 2 as the game headed into overtime all knotted up at 77-77.

After the first extra session ended tied at 81-81, Buchanan and Bey set the tone to begin the second overtime period while Jerome Meyinsee scored as well to help the hosts take the hard earned win.