Hapoel Jerusalem downed Hapoel Tel Aviv 89-84 as the most valuable player in the tournament Jared Harper proved to be unstoppable once again as the Capital City reds captured the Winner Cup. The victory marked the seventh time Jerusalem won the title with the last coming in 2023.

Harper scored in bunches to set the tone early while Khadeen Carrington and Yovel Zoosman found crucial points throughout the first half, but Elijah Bryant and Vasilije Micic kept Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad close with Yonatan Alon’s team heading into halftime ahead 52-50. Josiah Jordan-James and Roi Huber helped bump up Jerusalem’s lead to 16-points but Antonio Blakeney and Guy Palatin cut down the advantage in short order but Austin Wiley along with Harper and Carrington made sure to score in crunch time to take home the hardware.

Harper scored 33 points, Carrington added 15 points and Huber put in 12 points in the win while Blakeney scored 19 points, Bryant chipped in with 18 points and Micic put in 14 points in the loss.

Hapoel Jerusalem Head Coach Yonatan Alon spoke about the win, “It was a good game for this stage of the season and the fans enjoyed it. I’m glad we won. We have players that know how to win these types of big games. It’s sports and the guys know how to lift their level of play for these moments.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis spoke about the game that was, “It was a dog fight and Jerusalem managed to go to 76-60 but we didn’t give up and we came back, it was one offensive rebound, foul and good shot to close the gap but we lost the game. We still have three targets and we will chase them aggressively.”

Josiah Jordan James spoke about the team’s victory, “It goes back to the work we do day in and day out, the coach and team puts a lot of confidence in us and we have to work on somethings but we are moving the right way. Today was my day but any day it can be anyone of us from 1-15. We knew that it wasn’t going to be easy but we match up well and while we didn’t play our best 40 minutes we have to keep building on that. The sky’s the limit for us.”

Elijah Bryant discussed the defeat, “It was a hard fought game and they won, we can learn from this and grow and at the end of the day. When a team shoots 70% from two it’s hard to beat them. We practice together and spend a lot of time together but they were the better team today, I tip the hat to them. Jared Harper hit a lot of tough shots and can draw fouls.”

Yovel Zoosman went from deep for Hapoel Jerusalem while Elijah Bryant did the same for Hapoel Tel Aviv to get the game off and running, Khadeen Carrington put in a nifty layup and Itay Segev put down a pair of dunks. Ish Wainright and Jared Harper scored for their respective squads while the latter drilled home a triple and added free throws to give the capital city reds a 29-24 lead after ten minutes of play.

Roi Huber hit an off-balance triple to begin the second quarter, Antiono Blakeney came right back with a 3-pointer of his own, Carrington dunked, Oz Blayzer and Harper traded 3-point plays and Vasilije Micic scored a pair of buckets for his first points of the game.

Harper drilled home a 3-pointer with Guy Palatin in his face, Justin Smith came flying in off the left wing for an alley-oop via Harper, Micic put in a 3-point play, Wainright jammed home a Micic miscue, Austin Wiley put down a massive dunk while Micic scored a layup as Hapoel Jerusalem went into halftime holding a 52-50 lead.

Josiah Jordan-James nailed a pair of 3-pointers to start off the third quarter, Zoosman and Blakeney traded triples, Harper and Huber both went from deep, Zoosman came in for an open dunk but the period ended with a pair of Guy Palatin baskets to keep Dimitrios Itoudis’s team hanging around but down 76-64 after thirty minutes of action.

Bryant began the final frame with a 3-point play, Harper hit a jumper at the other end, Blakeney went from deep, Carrington did the same, Harper went in for a layup and added a pair of layups, Blakeney knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, Wiley dunked off the timeout, Bryant put in a deuce but the points were too little too late as Yonatan Alon’s team closed out the win.