Hapoel Emek and Bnei Herzliya will meet Monday (19:00) in the second Israel State Cup basketball semifinal as both teams are enjoying excellent seasons and share the same league record, 12 wins and four losses. Just ahead of the game, the respective coaches and captains spoke about the upcoming clash and the keys to advancing to the final where the winner of the Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem contest will be waiting.<\/p>\n
Herzliya head coach Yehu Orland shared his initial thoughts, \u201cThere has to be special attention paid to this game. We need to give everything; otherwise, we could find ourselves with nothing. We\u2019re coming prepared. There\u2019s a process happening with this team and we want to take a step forward.\u201d
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_3634.jpeg\")
\nOn the starting lineup: \u201cWhen you have good players, there\u2019s a dilemma. I\u2019ll make the decision I think is correct. So far, we\u2019ve chosen correctly according to our opponents and that\u2019s why we\u2019re near the top of the table. You\u2019ll have to wait to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Key points: \u201cWe need to be very careful not to come in overconfident. We as coaches try to emphasize that. An athlete in their comfort zone is very dangerous, you won\u2019t see that from us. We\u2019re coming to win a game that begins 0-0.\u201d
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_3635.jpeg\")
\nHapoel Emek head coach Sharon Avrahami also spoke about the semifinal clash, \u201cIt\u2019s an exciting event. I had the pleasure of being part of it as a player. We\u2019ll need to play tough and be aggressive. Unfortunately, we have a few injuries and we\u2019re still trying to get Aaron Wheeler fit.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the effort to bring as many fans as possible: \u201cThere have been major efforts. There\u2019s great excitement in the Emek. The whole region loves basketball. Dozens of buses will arrive tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the opponent: \u201cHerzliya deserves a lot of respect for what they\u2019ve done so far. Yehu is doing a great job. I hear everywhere that we\u2019re the underdog and I like that. It\u2019s one game; it will be interesting tomorrow. As for Rafi Menco, he\u2019ll contribute tomorrow and going forward as well.\u201d
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_3632.jpeg\")
\nHerzliya captain Shalev Lugashi spoke about the team\u2019s feelings: \u201cWe\u2019ve been preparing for over a week. Tactically, we\u2019ll come ready. The team is very excited. We\u2019re doing our maximum in practice. It\u2019s no secret that every player who starts at a young age wants to be in this kind of setting. All the players are very excited. We\u2019re coming to practice much sharper and really looking forward to the game.\u201d
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_3633.jpeg\")
\nTeam captain Roi Netzia shared the players\u2019 emotions: \u201cWe\u2019re very excited. For some of the players, this is a first opportunity. We\u2019re coming to play aggressively and give everything. It\u2019s true that it\u2019s one game and for a title, but we\u2019re trying to focus on doing the things we need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hapoel Emek and Bnei Herzliya will meet Monday (19:00) in the second Israel State Cup basketball semifinal as both teams are enjoying excellent seasons and share the same league record, 12 wins and four losses. Just ahead of the game, the respective coaches and captains spoke about the upcoming clash and the keys to advancing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":171123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6436],"class_list":["post-171139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-land-hoops","tag-hapoel-haemek","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n