Hapoel Jerusalem downed Hapoel Galil Elyon 75-66 to finish atop their Winner Cup group and punched their ticket to the quarterfinals of the competition against in a game against a yet to be determined opponent that will be played on Sunday night in Hadera. After a slow paced first half both teams came out firing from deep in the third quarter but the reds led by Jared Harper, Yovel Zoosman and Noam Dovrat kept the hosts in front to take the win.

Harper scored 18 points, Zoosman added 14 points while Dovrat and Jeremy Morgan each scored 11 points in the victory. Marcus Carr paced the visitors with 20 points Shachar Amir scored 17 points and Lior Carreira chipped in with 12 points in the loss.

Hapoel Galil Elyon got out to a quick lead as Lucas Goldenberg scored a pair of baskets but points from Jeremy Morgan and Jared Harper put Hapoel Jerusalem ahead 11-10 after ten minutes of play. Liar Carreira went from deep for the visitors to put them back out front, but long range buckets by Morgan, Speedy Smith and Harper handed Yonatan Alon’s squad a 25-17 advantage at halftime.

Noam Dovrat went from the outside and inside for the hosts, Marcus Carr and Carriera both went from downtown, Yovel Zoosman and Gaby Chachashvili joined the 3-pointer party as well, but points by Shachar Amir and Ahmed Hill kept Galil Elyon hanging around, however, another Harper triple and a Zoosman deuce gave Jerusalem a 51-42 lead after thirty minutes of action.

Carr and Amir cut down the lead in fast order from the outside, Dovrat responded from behind the arc, a red hot Amir put in a reverse layup and then swished a 3-pointer to close in to Jerusalem, Austin Wiley traded acrobatic baskets while Carr also scored but another triple by Zoosman sealed the deal and handed the reds the win.

“This is how the season or preseason starts,” Jerusalem head coach Yoanatan Alon said. “We are looking to find our path and while this was tough to watch over the first twenty minutes, we were there defensively and more so than other games. Every game is a mirror for us and we have to see what we can improve and we have to work on some more.

The Winner Cup has given us some helpful ideas,” Guni Israeli, the head coach Galil Elyon said. “But we need to continue to work hard as this is going to be the squad going into yet squad. I’m very happy with Shachar and I really wanted him to be with me here after working together in Holon. I’s great to see him develop and now play more with the ball and not just be a shooter. But the most important thing for us is to see the fans come to Hadera and watch us since we can’t play at Kfar Blum. We hope that everyone can return home and we will work very hard going forward.”

Noam Dovrat looks back at the game that was, “We started to open the game up in the second half and we were able to hit some key shots and calm the game down after it was a bit all over the place in the first half. I had some good minutes and some that needed work where I made a number of mistakes. But we tried to get everyone into the game in the second half. It’s been great playing with Jared Harper It’s easy to work with him and he can create something from nothing, and we are leaning to play with one another.”

Shachar Amir spoke about joining Galil Elyon after having played for Hapoel Holon the past couple of seasons, “It’s fun to be here and the club welcomed me with open arms. I’m enjoying my time here so far and the coach Guni Israeli who was an assistant at Holon where I played really wanted me here. It wasn’t difficult for me to come to Galil Elyon because of Uni being here but also I wanted to continue to develop as a player and that I feel that I can continue this way going forward. I haven’t experienced the Galil Elyon fans yet due to the war but I hope that we all will very soon.”

Maccabi Ramat Gan overwhelmed Elitzur Netanya 75-55 as Amin Stevens scored 17 points to pace Shmulik Brenner’s team to the win and move to 2-1 in Toto Cup action.