BSL Playoffs: Galil ends Holon's hopes of title repeat

Hapoel Galil/Gilboa will face Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Final Four next week.

By ALLON SINAI
hap galil vs holon (photo credit: Courtesy: Hapoel Galil/Gilboa official website)
hap galil vs holon
(photo credit: Courtesy: Hapoel Galil/Gilboa official website)
Hapoel Galil/Gilboa will face Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Final Four next week after claiming a dramatic 87-80 overtime road victory over last season's champion Hapoel Holon in the decisive Game 5. After splitting the first four games of the series, Galil and Holon still couldn't be separated after regulation on Thursday, but overtime was dominated by the visitors and Oded Katash will get his chance to knockoff Maccabi at the Nokia Arena next Tuesday. "We won this game with a lot of heart and soul," said Katash, who coached Maccabi at the start of last season. "My players deserve this so much and I'm so happy for them. Maccabi is the best team in the country, but we will be giving it our best." Brian Roberts scored 28 points for Galil, with Gal Mekel adding 19 points. Dion Dowell contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Elishay Kadir scored 10 points and took 16 rebounds. Brain Tolbert had 32 points and nine rebounds for Holon, with Lior Lifshitz and Deron Washington scored 14 and 13 points respectively. Galil and especially Roberts were unstoppable in the first period, with the visitors scoring 14 of 19 from the field in the first 10 minutes to open a 29-20 lead, thanks in large to Roberts 16 points. Isaiah Swann's second three-pointer of the game gave the visitors their first double-digit margin of the night (35-25), but Galil would only score four more points in the remainder of the first half and Holon stormed back into the game. Brian Tolbert found his range and his three with two minutes remaining in the half tied the score at 37-37. The score was still tied at the break (39-39) and after Katash received a technical foul for protesting against a bad refereeing call, the hosts opened a 46-39 lead. Holon ended the third quarter better than the visitors (57-52), but Galil had no intention of giving up without a fight and Dion Dowell's basket with six minutes to play brought the visitors level once more (59-59). With nine seconds to go Dagan Yavzuri tied the score at 75-75 from the free-throw line and Tolbert had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but missed a jumper and the encounter went into overtime. Tolbert opened the extra five minutes with a triple, but with 1:16 to play Swann hit two free-throws to give the visitors an 84-80 lead. Holon just couldn't score after that and Galil advanced to the Final Four with a tremendous win.