After a dramatic fourth quarter, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 73-71 at Nokia Arena in the Israeli Cup quarterfinals. Landesberg led all scorers with 19 points. Smith added 13 points and Pargo contributed 12.
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By Amy Samin
After a dramatic fourth quarter, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 73-71 at Nokia Arena in the Israeli Cup quarterfinals. Sylven Landesberg led all scorers with 19 points. Devin Smith added 13 points and Jeremy Pargo scored 12 points. Sofo Schortsanitis contributed 9 points and 7 rebounds.
Maccabi’s starters were Brian Randle, Yogev Ohayon, Jeremy Pargo, Devin Smith, and Jake Cohen. Although Hapoel scored first, the following minutes belonged to Maccabi, who jumped to 14-6 halfway through the period, thanks to points by Pargo and Smith. Ohayon and Sylven Landesberg each added points from downtown, extending Maccabi’s lead to 13, but the visitors were able to close to 21-16 as the period ended.
Sofo Schortsanitis looked good in the opening minutes of the second quarter, putting Maccabi’s lead in double digits, 26-16 after two minutes. The home team started having trouble scoring, while at the other end of the court Hapoel cut their deficit to single digits. Landesberg scored twice from downtown and added a layup and some free throws to close out the half with Maccabi leading 43-34.
The third quarter kicked off with points by Smith, Tyus dunk and putback and 1), and Landesberg with a triple that extended Maccabi’s lead to 53-38. MarQuez Haynes, Randle, and Pargo kept the momentum going, and the score stood at 59-42 halfway through the period. The visitors once again pulled within single digits, but Pargo and Smith scored from the foul line to end the period 61-50.
Points by Smith and Sofo started the final period, but Hapoel went on a 7-0 run that put them within two, 67-65 with three minutes left. Randle added a putback dunk, and a steal by Haynes went to Pargo who sent an alley-oop to Tyus who made it 71-65 with two and a half remaining. Hapoel didn’t give up, and made it 71-70 with :42 on the clock. The final seconds became a battle from the foul line, and in the end Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Cup quarterfinal derby, 73-71, and advances to the semifinal.
