Hapoel Holon survives an overtime thriller to join Akademk in the F4

Hapoel Holon is the second team from Group G that is now certain of its place in the Final 4 of Delasport Balkan League. The team had to work really hard but at the end managed to defeat Akademik Plovdiv 95-93 at home to join them for the final tournament. Hapoel needs to host Kumanovo and then on April 8th, in Plovdiv the first place of the group will be decided.

The visitors started really well the game and took a double-digit lead already in the first quarter. In the second it even reached 18 points before a 22-2 run for Hapoel put the hosts up. At the break however the score was tied and the second half started as the first one - with a good run by the Bulgarian side. 8 straight points gave them the lead back and as Hapoel closed the gap, the teams started exchanging baskets. It all came down to the end when the hosts had the final shot for the win but missed it and the game went to extra five minutes.

In the first part of the overtime the game continued as before - with both teams scoring. With Hapoel leading by 4, Bachev scored a triple to close the gap to just 1. After just one made free throw, Akademik even had the chance to win but Vucica missed a triple.

Nate Sestina was the top scorer for the winners with 23 points as Willy Workman had 20 and 11 rebounds.

The visitors were led by Jahii Carson who finished with 21 points. Three other players scored 18 points each - Jere Vucica, Nikolay Nikolov and Vasil Bachev.