Urbani Ness Ziona recorded tonight (Friday) one of its biggest victories in recent years, when it defeated 80: 105 over Greek Hercules Thessaloniki and qualified at its expense for the European Cup semi-final in a bubble in the Dutch city of Dan Bosch.
Brad Greenberg’s team made a huge history when they made it to the factory’s Final Four, which is expected to take place from April 23 to 25. In the next stage, the Oranges will meet the strong Pharma Perm, which defeated Balkan 62:84 in the quarterfinals.
After the Oranges defeated BC Kiev 76:90 in the quarterfinals thanks to an impressive turnaround, this time they led and dictated the pace right from the start, when throughout most of the stages of the match even held a double-digit advantage that was well maintained.
The Greeks dreamed of a comeback, but the Oranges gave gas and secured the victory towards the end of the third quarter, so the difference reached 19 points (in the last quarter the difference increased even more). Jerome Manci and Brian Angola excelled at Greenberg, and Patrick Miller also certainly deserves compliments for a wonderful performance and a host of assists he handed out.
Scored for Ness Ziona: Brian Angola 27 points, Jerome Mainsy 26, Patrick Miller 19, Wayne Selden 11, Tal Dan, Lior Carrera and Or Cornelius 6 each, Nimrod Levy and Raviv Lemond 2 each.
First quarter: 18:27 to Nes Ziona
Hercules Quintet: Ubina Kanchukuu, Josh Huggins, Oliver Henlan, Vasilis Kabadas and Scott Sags.
Ness Ziona Quintet: Brian Angola, Tal Dan, Jerome Mainsey, Patrick Miller and Wayne Selden.
The Oranges started well when Angola scored in the playoffs and added a three on the way to 0: 5, but Huggins shrank with a three of his own. Miller scored a basket and added a three on the way to a private 0-5 run. Mainsy scored from the penalty spot and the orange advantage grew to 7 points. Dan snatched and handed Miller on the way to a big dunk, which forced the opponent to take a timeout.
The rival did manage to shrink, but Angola put 2 and maintained the double-digit advantage of Ness Ziona, when Henlan was the one who canceled it out and forced Greenberg to take a timeout. Miller stitched a big three just under two minutes to the end of the quarter and the Oranges looked just fine and played with confidence. Immediately after, Angola added three points of his own. Towards the end of the quarter the visitors slowed down and allowed the Greeks to reduce from a three-pointer from Sags.
Second quarter: 40:50 to Nes Ziona
Mainsi scored the first basket of the quarter in the quarterfinals and added from the penalty spot, but both teams had a hard time producing points in the opening. The Greeks narrowed, Lemond scored an important basket, but Devin Maurice narrowed the gap to nine. Mainsi scored for Ness Ziona, but the opponent was 0: 5 and reduced the difference to only five points.
Angola scored an important three for Ness Ziona and Selden continued with two important from the line that again set up a promising gap. The Oranges increased the pace towards the end of the quarter, Henlan reduced the lead in the play-offs, but before that Nimrod Levy and Patrick Miller scored two baskets that arranged an important double-digit advantage.
Third quarter: 55:72 to Nes Ziona
Selden scored for Nes Ziona, which rose to 12 points, but the Greeks hurried to reduce it with two consecutive baskets. Sags reduced the penalty and dropped to just seven points, but Angola woke up and scored from the line, and Miller added as well. Next, Selden and Angola scored 2 points each and set up 9 points again.
Selden and Carrera also scored for Nes Ziona, Manci also added an assist from Miller, when later he also scored from the line and set up a promising 14-point lead. After that, Minsy and Carrera who scored a basket and added a huge three increased to a record advantage of 19 points, but Huggins shrank towards the end and set the quarter result, which was tremendous for Ness Ziona.
Fourth quarter: 80: 105 to Nes Ziona
The final quarter, which was for the record only, opened with a great basket from Millery Massey Assist. Mainsi also added from the line and later Angola stitched a big three on the way to 21 points – a show in orange. The opponent only managed to offset a little, but it didn’t really change anything, and Tal Dan scored a layup that again brought the difference closer to 20, when at this point Ness Ziona took a timeout on the way to calm minutes until the end.