Hapoel Jerusalem eased past Turk Telekom 76-66 as the Reds jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they clinched second place in EuroCup Division B good for an automatic place in the quarterfinals. Jared Harper, Khadeen Carrington and Yovel Zoosman got the game rolling for Hapoel Jerusalem with points a plenty while Anthony Brown tried to keep Turk close but the Reds headed into halftime with a 39-27 lead. Chris Johnson began to score at will as Harper and Carrington did the same to keep the visitors led by Brown and Olivier Hanlan at bay and chalk up the victory.

Harper scored 21 points, Carrington added 17 points, Johnson scored 13 points and Zoosman chipped in with 12 points in the win. Brown scored 19 points and hannan scored 13 points in the loss.

“The guys came in very focussed,” Jerusalem Head Coach Yonatan Alon began. “They knew exactly what they needed to do and they had the character to make sure that they executed here in this game. Defensively we were very consistent and we played very good defense the whole game. Offensively we had some ups and downs and I’m happy about the win. To finish in second place in the EuroCup allows us to continue striving for our goals thanks to the staff and players. This is really special due to the challenges that we have had and we should be proud.”

The game MVP Jared Harper spoke about the victory as well as about his own play this season, “The identity of our team has to start on defense and we had a great game on defense and we also had some great offensive plays, but if we defend like that, then we can win any game.”

“It’s never about an individual award. I believe in myself and we are a team that allows its players to be who they are. We are happy that we are in 2nd place in the division and that we can make a push to go all the way. We can play with anybody and we battled a lot of adversity this season. I think we are built for the end of the year.”