Hapoel Haifa downed host Enisey Krasnoyarsk 85-80 in FIBA Europe Cup semifinal action as Elad Hasin’s club featured five players in double digits. The Carmel Reds will look to punch their ticket to the group stages of the competition when they face Medi Bayreuth on Friday at 3:30pm Israel time after the German club disposed of SZTE-Szeged with veteran Marcus Thorton leading the way.

In a back and forth clash with Enisey controlling the game for the majority of the contest, Gregory Vargas (12p/13a) and Spencer Weisz (12p) stepped up in the final frame to complement fine play by Amit Simhon (17p), Kadeem Allen (16p) and James Thompson (11p) to take the hard earned win.

Spencer Weisz spoke about the keys to victory, “We locked in as a team. Started with our defense. Offensively, we started to make great reads – attacking switches and hitting open shooters. Total team effort and excited to be moving on to Friday’s game.”

The Princeton product also spoke about playing alongside veteran Gregory Vargas who put together a double-double performance, “It’s been a lot of fun and extremely helpful. He’s so experienced and knowledgeable that he makes the game easier for everyone. He’s a great leader and floor general for us.”

“We came very well aware that we were going to be playing some very very tough teams with European tradition,” Hasin commented after the win. “Credit goes to all those connected to Hapoel Haifa, Yuval Rosman, the fans, management, everyone as they all did amazing work as the players fought and gave their soul.”

“We were able to keep to our game plan and stop Rion Brown and Casper Ware to a combined 19 points and this was a key. We handed out 22 assists and we did a great job on offense especially in the second half and I want to dedicate this win to the Alfasi family as Arik was a very good friend.”