Sfairopoulos squad opened and finished the game aggressive on defense, as both teams didn’t impress. Tarik Black was almost unstoppable; Scottie Wilbekin punished the purples from all cylinders and Wolters, Avdija & Cohen had efficient minutes on the court.

For the first time this season, the Yellow & Blue will face Oded Katash’s Hapoel Jerusalem. The teams met one another six times in the Winner Cup finals, as each side won the title three times. Maccabi has the most appearances in the winner cup finals (10) as she also holds the record for most finals wins (7).

Scored for Maccabi: Scottie Wilbekin 14 points, Tarik Black 13 points, Omri Caspi 11 points, Othello Hunter, Jake Cohen, Deni Avdija (5 rebounds) 7 points each, Yovel Zoosman 6 points & 4 rebounds, Nate Wolters 5 points & 4 assists, John DiBartolomeo 4 points and Tyler Dorsey 2 points. Scored For Nahariya: Jeff Adrien 17 points, Egor Koulechov 16 points, and Itay Segev 11 points.

Game recap
Nate Wolters, Scottie Wilbekin, Yovel Zoosman, Omri Caspi and Tarik Black started the game strong for coach Sfairopoulos giving Maccabi a 5:0 lead. The Yellow & Blue continued their sharp defensive display going up 9:2, but slowly Nahariya got it together – after 10 minutes Maccabi led 22:16.

Egor Koulechov opened the second quarter with a tough bucket to bring the purples within 1, 22:21. Yovel Zoosman nailed a three-pointer, and Omri Caspi drove powerfully to the basket to shift the momentum back to the Yellow & Blue. Wilbekin with an aggressive move put Maccabi on top 31:26, as Dominic Waters answered on the other end with a three. Maccabi goes down to the half with a three-point lead, 34:31.

As the third quarter went by, Tarik Black left to the locker rooms after hurting his elbow fighting for a rebound. Wolters, Jake Cohen, and Hunter led an 11:0 run to give the Yellow & Blue a double-digit lead. In the final minute of the third, Nahariya hit three straight shots behind the arc to cut the lead to 55:52.

Maccabi came back sharp from the break, as Deni Avdija and Tarik Black guided Maccabi to their most significant lead of the day 74:59. The Purples went on a 6:0 run to bring the lead down to single-digit, but it was way too late. Maccabi wins 76:65 as they’ll play Hapoel Jerusalem in the Winner Cup finals on Saturday night.