Maccabi Ramat Gan stunned Hapoel Tel Aviv 109-102 in overtime to punch their ticket to the Winner Cup semifinal where they will face the winner of the Hapoel Jerusalem and Bnei Herzliya quarterfinal matchup.

The Reds came out strong with points a plenty from Bruno Caboclo but Amin Stevens kept Ramat Gan hanging around over the course of the first half. Joe Ragland, Marcus Foster, Oz Blayzer and Guy Palatin kept Stefanos Dedas’s team ahead down the stretch but Stevens continued to score and Roi Huber’s clutch 3-pointer as time wound down in the fourth quarter sent the game into an extra session. Once in overtime, Adam Ariel hit one after the next from deep to give Shmulik Brenner’s team the shock win.

Stevens led the way with 30 points, Ariel added 24 points and Huber scored 21 points in the win. Ragland scored 21 points, Caboclo chipped in with 19 points and Marcus Foster scored 18 points in the loss.

“A lot of credit for this win has to go to Roi Huber and Amin Stevens while Adam Ariel scored just at the right time,” Ramat Gan coach Shmulik Brenner said. “Amin is a very smart player. For me, it gives me a lot of confidence as he really understands the game. Roi is a central player for us. It was very important to bring him in the summer, the point guard position and the injury to Kendale McCullum last year hurt us. It was an impressive game from a young and promising Israeli player. We want to compete with everyone and as we say in the locker room, “We respect everyone but we fear no one.”

“We did everything that we had to do to lose the game,” Hapoel bench boss Stefanos Dedas began. “Missed free throws, we made fouls when we didn’t need to. We paid a price for a lack of experience and players that don’t know pressure. We missed free throws, gave them easy free throws, and one baskets. The crucial difference was that we needed to switch on the screen set for Adam Ariel. We didn’t have Bentil after his technicals. It’s not excuses. We looked like we would win for 35 minutes, but this loss will for sure be a lesson for the future.”

Amin Stevens looked back at his team’s victory, “Great game, hard fought win and I’m happy for the team. The preseason has been rough for us, a little shaky, but I think today shows that we can live up to our potential. Once we clawed back and the game got close, we knew that the pressure would be more on them than us. Their bigs are tough and physical, great offensively. My goal was to come and give a lot of effort and whatever happens, happens. For me, we want to compete in both leagues – Champions League and the domestic league. Top 3, 4 and 5 in both is the goal.”

Oz Blayzer also reflected on the game that was, “It’s very disappointing and this shouldn’t have happened. We needed to finish the game off but we will look at the video and see what we can improve on. We missed some free throws as well. We have a long season ahead of us and this Tuesday we have a super important EuroCup game but it’s disappointing all in all as we want to win all of the available titles.”

The trio of Patrick Beverley, Ish Wainwright and Johnathan Motley didn’t suit up for Hapoel who came into the game with 8 imports with only five slots to list them to go along with their EuroCup opener coming up on Tuesday as Dedas relied heavily on just eight rotation players with Tomer Ginat inured and Bar Timor not available due to the birth of his daughter. Over on Ramat Gan’s side Roberto Gallinat was out with an injury.

Amin Stevens and Adam Ariel got Maccabi Ramat Gan on the board early on while Joe Ragland sliced to the hoop and Guy Palatin went deep from the corner for Hapoel Tel Aviv, Marcus Foster, Noam Yaacov and Braian Angola all added their names to the scoresheet and Bruno Caboclo put down a reverse dunk at the buzzer to give the Reds a 26-12 lead after ten minutes of play.

Roi Huber went from the outside and inside to begin the second quarter as Ramat Gan cut down the Hapoel lead, Caboclo responded with a trio of baskets in the paint to stem the tide and added a triple for good measure as Drew Crawford and Itay Moskovits came back with points but a Yaacov bucket kept Stefanos Dedas’s club in front 43-33 at halftime.

Isaiah Miles opened the the second half with a jumper and Stevens added points, Ragland and Blayzer each scored a pair of 3-pointers, Huber and Palatin traded triples, Foster scored one from deep as did Ben Bentil for his first points of the game but Crawford and Stevens kept Shmulik Brenner’s team in the game, down by 10-points, 67-57 after thirty minutes of action.

Bentil and Huber traded buckets to get the fourth quarter off and running while Stevens scored at will to pull Ramat Gan to within 73-67 with 5:39 left in regulation. Yahel Melamed went from downtown but Palatin nailed a pair of triples, Caboclo scored in the paint, Adam Ariel went from beyond the arc and Ragland dropped another 3-pointer but a Huber heave with under a second left tied the game up at 88-88 to send the contest into overtime.

Ariel went from the inside and outside, Foster went from deep, Stevens came back with a deuce and Ariel drilled home a pair from downtown to put the game out of reach as Ramat Gan delivered the first stunner of the season.