Hapoel Jerusalem couldn’t miss from deep as the reds went wild from beyond the arc to take a 91-73 win over Hapoel Holon. There was no Israel State Cup hangover for Aleksandar Dzikic’s squad as they saw point guard Brandon Brown break out by going 7/8 from downtown while the team as a whole went 19/30 to take the win just three days after the club captured the in-season title.

The capital city squad came out gunning on all cylinders as Or Cornelius and Brandon Brown led the Reds who went 6/8 from beyond the arc to a 28-12 lead after ten minutes but Joe Ragland and Marvin Jones helped Hapoel Holon cut down the advantage to 51-40 at halftime.

Ragland continued to score but Cornelius and Levi Randolph kept finding the bottom of the basket while Brown finished the game off in the final frame with 3-pointers galore to notch the victory.

Brown led the way with 21 points, Randolph added 17 points while Cornelius and Speedy Smith each scored 12 points in the win. Ragland paced Guy Goodes’s team with 20 points as Shawn Dawson and CJ Harris scored 11 points a piece in the loss.

“The game was how we were expecting it to be,” Dzikic began. “You give Holon a little room they are deadly dangerous on offense and if you rest for a moment, they will punch. We managed to win which is good, simply because we proved to ourselves that we have enough pride and understood the situation after winning the trophy. There was noise that we were still celebrating which was probably true but we figured out how to play pretty well for some moments.”

“This was a good lesson for the next game,” Goodes said. “Aggressiveness will be important and they hit a lot of 3-pointers in a catch and shoot which we will need to stop. We have a short roster and we will do the best with what we have.”

Game MVP Brandon Brown looked back at the game, “This was not really our style of play as we are a defensive team and we had all the reasons to just show up after the cup win. But we were all here and ready to play. I’m proud of the guys and this win was a statement.”

Chris Johnson opened the game with a deuce for Hapoel Holon, Or Cornelius drained a pair of 3-pointers for Hapoel Jerusalem Joe Ragland put in a reverse layup and Speedy Smith went from deep as the hosts grabbed an early 9-4 lead midway through the period. Levi Randolph put in a 3-point play, Zach Hankins added a floater, Khadeen Carrington went from deep, CJ Harris came back with points at the other end but Brandon Brown dialled up for a pair from long distance to give Aleksandar Dzikic’s team a 28-12 lead after ten minutes.

Marvin Jones dunked to begin the second quarter, Brown and Cornelius both went from downtown, Johnson scored off a team play, Ragland easily cut to the hoop, Jones added a floater and TJ Cline answered with a 3-point play to keep the reds in front 40-28 with five minutes remaining in the first half. Shawn Dawson scored Holon’s first 3-pointer of the game, Harris scored a layup, Randolph went from deep and then went off for a baseline dunk, Smith hit a jumper, Jones dunked but Randolph scored a floater at the halftime buzzer to give Jerusalem a 51-40 lead at halftime.

Ragland led off the second half with points, Smith answered, Ragland scored from beyond the arc to close in but Randolph with a layup and Cornelius from deep bumped the lead back up to 59-46 midway through the frame. Hayden Dalton scored his first points of the game, Harris hit a jumper, Harris put in a 3-point play while Carrington went from deep to keep the Reds ahead 65-53 after thirty minutes of action.

Ragland went from downtown to start off the fourth quarter, Dawson hit a floater, Brown responded with a 3-pointer, Oz Blayzer also went from deep as Hankins also scored inside to keep Jerusalem comfortably in front 73-59 with five minutes left in regulation time. Blayzer and Dalton traded triples, Brown hit a trio of triples, Smith added one of his own and Noam Yaacov closed out the game from deep as well to take the 18-point game.