Four teams punched their ticket to the Israel State Cup quarterfinals

Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion dropped pesky Hapoel Beer Sheva 87-80 in an aggressive, action packed, physical contest in the wine city. Akil Mitchell and Golan Gutt spearheaded a 13-0 run near the end of the third quarter to break the game open and take the victory. Mitchell led the way with 24 points, 13 rebounds, 5 steals and 5 assists for an efficiency rating of 45, Darryl Monroe also checked in with a 19 point and 11 rebound double-double while Trey Lewis and Isaiah Taylor each scored 14 points for Guy Goodes’s squad. Amir Bell with 25 points and Spencer Weisz with 24 points paced Rami Hadar’s team in the loss.

“It’s not always pretty but a win is win and I’ll take it,” said Mitchell. “Coach has been on me for a few weeks now just telling me the type of player that I could be and I pushed myself, trying to challenge myself to be that player every day and not just one game here and one game there, but to do it every day.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv downed upstart Maccabi Netanya 77-70 outscoring the diamond city squad 49-30 in the second half to stave off an upset. Netanya jumped out to 40-26 lead after twenty minutes but on the strength of Itay Moskovits with 24 points and Bryce Washington with 19 points. But Reds newcomer Gabe York’s 18 points, Yam Madar’s 15 points and Reggie Upshaw’s 11 points helped Coach Ioannis Kastritis take the hard earned win. 

Hapoel Gilboa Galil defeated Nahariya 83-75 thanks to 21-11 final frame to capture the win. Joe Thommason scored 18 points while Netanel Artzi and Isaiah Cousins each chipped in with 11 points for Lior Lubin’s team. Michael Young led Danny Franco’s squad with 21 points and Jaron Blossomgame scored 14 points in the defeat.

Maccabi Haifa was all over Ramat HaSharon 101-80 to advance to the State Cup quarterfinals. Roman Sorkin starred for Daniel Seoane’s crew with 27 points and 10 rebounds, Rigoberto Mendoza added 21 points and Avi Ben Shimol scored 19 points for the Greens. JeQuan Lewis led Ramat HaSharon with 24 points in the loss.