Road to the Final Four: BC Hapoel Tel Aviv

BC Hapoel Tel Aviv are the second Israeli team after BC Galil Gilboa, who reached the Final Four in their debut season in the EUROHOLD Balkan League. Hapoel are the second team from Group B (along with Levski) which moved on to the final stage of the competition, but they had to go through a quarterfinal play-off series against BC Rilski Sportist.   Hapoel finished the regular season on the second position in Group B with 8 wins and only 2 losses, as both of those losses came against Levski Sofia (1st, 10-0) - 85:78 in Sofia and 79:86 in Tel Aviv. The team defeated the 2011 BIBL champion Feni Industries twice - 82:85 in Kavadarci and 83:76 in Tel Aviv.   In the quarterfinal play-offs they had to face the third-placed team in Group A - BC Rilski Sportist, as they won the series 2-1. The first game in Samokov finished 83:78 for Rilski Sportist, but after 84:63 and 78:60 in the following games in Israel they closed the series at 2-1.   American forward Curtis Kelly has been a key performer for Hapoel over the course of the season, averaging 16.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocked shots per contest. Demontez Stitt adds 14.7 points and 2.5 assists, while Cory Carr averages 11.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists. Matan Naor also has been doing quite well - 11.0 points, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocked shots.   In the semifinals of the EUROHOLD Balkan League Hapoel will face the other Israeli side - Galil Gilboa, as the game is scheduled for 21.30 local time on April 21st in Gan Ner.