Twice in One Week: Hapoel Advances to the Winner Cup Final!

The second Clasico of the season belongs to Hapoel as well: five days after defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv in the battle for the Super Cup, the Reds from the capital beat the Yellows once again - this time with a 79-69 victory in the Winner Cup semifinals.

Yonatan Alon's team is back in the tournament Final for the first time since the 2023/24 season and will look to win the trophy for the seventh time in club history, while the Yellows have surrendered the title they won last season. Hapoel will face the winner of the game between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel HaEmek for the trophy.

Hapoel scorers: Jared Harper 22, Khadeen Carrington 16, Anthony Lamb, Justin Smith and Josiah-Jordan James 8 each, Roi Huber 6, Nimrod Levi and Yovel Zoosman 5 each, Austin Wiley 1.

Maccabi Tel Aviv scorers: Jimmy Clark 16, Lonnie Walker 12, Tamir Blatt 10, Will Rayman and Roman Sorkin 7 each, Gur Lavy 6, John DiBartolomeo 4, Marcio Santos 3, Jeff Dowtin Jr. and T.J. Leaf 2 each.

Hapoel will open its European campaign next Tuesday - and it looks ready for the challenge against Hamburg in the EuroCup. The Reds have maintained a perfect record to start the 2025/26 season, recording their sixth win in six official games, including two victories over their great rivals from Tel Aviv.

This is what a team with "unfinished business from last season," as Yonatan Alon put it, looks like.

If there is one area Hapoel will need to work on, it's turnovers. The Reds committed no fewer than 20 in the game - a number a team of this level cannot afford to live with.

"In the afternoon, in the morning and at night" (Photo: Oded Karni)

The Yellows started with Walker, Dowtin Jr., Clark, Hoard and Sorkin. On the other side, the Reds opened with Harper, Carrington, Zoosman, Lamb and Smith.

The first quarter was marked by a barrage of Hapoel three-pointers. The Reds knocked down six of their eight attempts from beyond the arc - three of them from Harper - on their way to a 23-19 lead after 10 minutes.

The Super Cup holders continued to control the game in the second quarter, opening up a 12-point advantage at 36-24 with two minutes remaining before halftime. A 7-0 Maccabi run led by Walker gave Kattash's team some life, but the final word of the first half belonged to Josiah-Jordan James, who knocked down his second three-pointer of the game to send Hapoel into the break with a 41-31 lead.

The opening minutes of the third quarter once again belonged to Hapoel, with a Lamb three-pointer extending the lead to a game-high 17 points at 52-35. The Yellows, who looked somewhat lost during those minutes, began to show some fight toward the end of the quarter, with six consecutive points from Clark cutting the deficit to 11. Hapoel entered the final 10 minutes leading 59-48.

Maccabi's momentum carried into the fourth quarter, as three-pointers from Blatt and Rayman cut Hapoel's lead to just one point. But the Reds regained their composure, responded with a 9-1 run of their own led by Carrington and Harper - and put the game away.

79-69 to Hapoel at the final buzzer, as the Reds booked their place in the Winner Cup Final.

Harper. Hapoel's main man once again (Photo: Oded Karni)

Deeno. Huge minutes in the fourth quarter (Photo: Oded Karni)

Smith and Carrington. Two wins from two Clasicos for the Reds this season (Photo: Oded Karni)

Alon. His team maintained its perfect record (Photo: Oded Karni)

Carrington after the final buzzer. One of the heroes of Hapoel's victory (Photo: Oded Karni)

Hapoel is one win away from a seventh Winner Cup title (Photo: Oded Karni)