Scottie Wilbekin drained a game-winning three to send the reigning champions to the Final, as the Yellow & Blue will match up against Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion on Tuesday. Tyler Dorsey led the Yellow & Blue with 20 points
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv advance to the Final Four Final after Scottie Wilbekin hit a clutch triple with 2.7 seconds on the game clock for an 81:78 triumph over Hapoel Gilboa/Galil in the Semi-Final. The Yellow & Blue will match up on Tuesday at 21:00 against Maccabi Rishon Le’ Zion, who clinched their spot in the finals after a dramatic 100:97 win over Hapoel Jerusalem thanks to an Adam Ariel game-winning three-pointer.
Before the game, several Maccabi players won 2019/2020 yearly awards: Deni Avdija – Israeli MVP, Yovel Zoosman – Defensive player of the year, Scottie Wilbekin, and Deni Avdija 1st team all Winner League 2019/2020 season.
Maccabi opened the game with Scottie Wilbekin, Tyler Dorsey, Deni Avdija, Angelo Caloiaro, and Othello Hunter. On the other end, Gilboa/Galil started with Yiftach Ziv, Joe Thomasson, Michael Young, Akil Mitchell, and Benayahu Sror.
Mitchell, Ziv, and Thomasson awarded the Reds a quick 6:0 lead, but Hunter put Maccabi on the board after grabbing an offensive rebound, and Dorsey finished a three-point play to reduce the advantage down to 1, 5:6. Wilbekin hit back to back triples, and Avdija laid it in for the Yellow & Blue’s first lead of the night, 13:12.
Dorsey and Mitchell exchanged buckets, but Ziv recaptured advantage in the final minute, scoring 4 consecutive points for the northern squad, 21:22. Wilbekin sank a triple at the buzzer to give Giannis Sfairopoulos’s unit a 24:22 lead after ten minutes.
Jake Cohen and Amar’e Stoudemire connected from the charity strike to start a 7:0 stretch that helped Maccabi escape from Gilboa/Galil, 31:24. Young stopped the run with an impressive fade away, but Dorsey made sure Maccabi holds a comfortable advantage hitting a three, and Avdija added two, 36:28 midway through the second quarter.
Cohen added a pair from the line as the Yellow & Blue kept dominating the offensive boards while Hunter made Lubin call a timeout, 40:31. Thomasson scored from downtown, but Avdija answered in the final possession of the first half, 43:36 Maccabi.
Hunter converted 6 of Maccabi’s first 9 points of the second half, which ramped the advantage to double digits, 52:41. Ziv’s three-pointer and Tim Coleman’s first two points of the night trimmed the deficit down to 7, 56:49.
However, Cohen knocked a triple, Avdija scored in the post-up, and Dorsey’s added 2 from the strike providing Giannis Sfairopoulos’s squad a commanding 13 point lead heading into the final quarter, 64:51.
After a pair of buckets by Ziv, Caloiaro responded on the other end, drilling a corner three pushing the advantage back to 13, 68:55. Sror and Thomasson converted from the line, and Mitchell hooked it in to cut the lead down to 7, 73:66 midway through the 4th quarter.
Following Jake Cohen’s unsportsmanlike foul, his 5th of the game, Ziv led the Northern Reds to an 8:0 run pulling within one, 75:74, 2:15 left on the game clock. Dorsey sank an important corner three, while on the other end, Mitchell threw down a slam, adding a free throw to tie the score at 78:78 with less than a minute to go.
Wilbekin ran the shot clock down to 2.7 seconds, separating himself just enough from Srur to pull up a game-winning triple. Lior Libun took two consecutive timeouts, but Avdija denied the income pass sending Maccabi to the final after a dramatic 81:78 win over Hapoel Gilboa/Galil.
