Hapoel Eilat avoided elimination in the most thrilling of fashions on Sunday night. Larry O'Bannon has been crucial: his game-winning shot in overtime gave Eilat a 78-75 victory over Maccabi Haifa, cutting the team's deficit in the BSL semifinals to 2-1.
The game at Romema Arena turned on its head several times, with Haifa seemingly heading to a second straight sweep when it led by 11 points midway through the final quarter.
Eilat was in control when it was ahead by four points with 20 seconds to play in regulation, but Haifa forced overtime, only for the southerners to end the game with a 7-0 surge to clinch the win.
“This is massive. We owed our fans after the first two games,” said Eilat coach Oded Katash. “I want to believe that this victory will give us the push we need to win the series.”
Larry O'Bannon (here, in the first page of the Israeli newspaper) had 23 points for Eilat, grabbing also 3 rebounds and stealing 5 balls.
Eilat will host Game 4 of the best-of-five series on Wednesday.