Moshe Barda
Dayshawn Booker vs. Joe Ragland (Omari Stein)
The reigning champion, Guy Godes’ Hapoel Holon, is hosting Hapoel Galil Alyion at this time in the Enerbox hall in their room, for a match in the quarter-finals of the Winner Basket Cup that will determine which of the two will win and qualify for the semi-finals. Both teams reached the quarter-final stage, with Holon qualifying thanks to its position in the league last year, and Upper Galilee has to thank Hapoel Haifa for retiring, as it will participate in the Eurocup qualifiers.
The Purple Tigers of Guy Goodes, who did not win at all in the preparatory games, come to the competition with the goal of advancing to the next level, and going with a calm mind to the preparatory tournament planned for them in Cyprus next week. On the other hand, Barak Peleg’s northerners, who only recently parted with the great Decari Tucker, and after not winning their last four games last year, will come ready to try and start the current season on the right foot, and take a place in the semi-finals.
Whichever of the two wins the matchup, will face an equally difficult hurdle in the semi-final stage, as they will meet the winner of the quarter-final between Oded Ketch’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Rami Hadar’s excellent Hapoel Gilboa Galil.
first quarter
Hapoel Holon Five: Joe Reland, Frederic Bourdion, CJ Harris, Chris Johnson, Marvin Jones.
Hapoel Nof HaGalil Five: Dayshawn Booker, Jaylen Hudson, Bryce Washington, Roy Hoover, Nimrod Levy.
Marvin Jones jumped too early for the opening ball and gave the first ball of the game to an upper cylinder, but the Whites did not take advantage of it, Bourdion scored the first points of the game with a beautiful three-pointer from the corner. Washington gave the first points to the whites from a beautiful burst that he finishes with two points in the paint. The Purples struggle in the pick and roll and Bryce Washington completely dominates the paint.
CJ slipped in the paint, twisted his knee and went down for treatment and ended the game. The Purples started an eight-point run led by Ragland and Johnson and took the lead three minutes to the end of the quarter, Hudson answered with a three-pointer of his own and prevented the escape of the champion.
