Brian Asbury Leads Hapoel Tel Aviv upset of Holon

Riding a perfect record in the National League and buoyed by its fans donned in red, Hapoel Tel Aviv became the first second-tier team in seven years to knock out a club from the first league when it beat Hapoel Holon 93-85 in the State Cup round of 16 last night.

The fan-owned team, which has worked its way up from the fourth tier, looked charged with energy to take another giant step and advance to the quarterfinals. But both teams were running up and down the court during the first two quarters, which was virtually absent of defense, as Holon went into halftime with a 51-48 lead.

Holon, lacking a deep bench, paid the price for the fast pace as it began to run out of steam in the fourth quarter. Tel Aviv's Brian Asbury looked like a dominant Super League big man down the stretch. Asbury, a graduate of the University of Miami, exploded for 34 points and 14 rebounds.
Trailing by two, Asbury tied the game at 78, then Elad Eliyahu hit a three to make it 83-80

Holon's Moran Roth, who scored 29 points the last time a National League team beat an opponent from the Super League when Ramle knocked out Rishon Letzion, scored 17 yesterday but was unable to stop Hapoel's run when he went down with an injury with three minutes to go.

Asbury then buried a three from downtown to give Tel Aviv its biggest lead of the game at 87-80, and Tel Aviv turned up the defense to come away with the upset.



(haaretz.com)