Hebraica completes upset, defeating Franca to make the Final 4

FRANCA (Brazil) – Hebraica Macabi completed a dramatic series comeback, defeating SESI Franca 101-96 Saturday on the road to advance to the Basketball Champions League Americas Final 4.

The Uruguayans left the crowd at Ginásio Pedrocão positively stunned, eliminating the defending champions by winning back-to-back games in Brazil.

Turning point: Down by double digits (67-56) midway through the third quarter, Hebraica found themselves on the brink of defeat.

But Luciano Parodi put on his cape and became the hero the visitors needed, orchestrating a 14-2 run between the end of the 3rd quarter and the beginning of the 4th, essentially starting a new ball game.

The teams then traded several leads until another run, this time a 6-0 flurry, gave Hebraica what eventually would be the definitive one. Leonardo Zylbersztein’s club then showed great poise down the stretch as the home squad got within a point on several occasions but never got over the hump.

Player of the Game: Luciano Parodi had been having a pedestrian series by his standards, but now looks like he was saving his best for last.

The 30-year-old point guard led Hebraica with 26 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal for an efficiency of 30. He shot 6/14 from the field, including 6/8 from beyond the arc.

Ernesto Oglivie (23 points on 8/14 from the field), Franklin Hassell (16 points and 11 boards) and Jordan Williams (18 points) were also instrumental in achieving the historic feat.

Charles Hinkle had gotten Franca going with 18 points in the first quarter and finished with a team-high 23. Santiago Scala added 22 points and 8 assists and Marcio Santos contributed 14 points and 7 boards.

Star big man Lucas Dias scored 13 of his 16 in the second half, but the production came too little too late for Franca.

Stats don’t lie: There are certain times where the box score paints a clear picture of what happened in the hardwood.

This time around, Hebraica shot 56.9 percent from the field, shot 14/20 from beyond the arc and 21/28 at the free throw line, underscoring a truly explosive offensive performance that not even a star-studded Franca team could stop.

The Uruguayans also won 40-28 on the boards and 30-24 in points in the paint.

Their accuracy made it so that the fact that Franca had 15 more field goal attempts only managed to make the score less lopsided than the percentages would indicate.

Bottom line: Hebraica extended what’s become a dream run in their first BCLA appearance, where they became the second club out of Uruguay to make it to the Final 4 after Biguá made the final in 2022. They will now face the winner of the Quimsa-Real Estelí matchup, where the Argentinians are currently up 1-0.

Franca’s reign ended abruptly after an excellent Group Stage that saw the accumulate a 5-1 record. All in all, they’ll finish with a 6-3 mark, but won’t join fellow Brazilian giants Flamengo in the next round.

FIBA