Hapoel Jerusalem slipped by Le Mans 90-83 in a dramatic game that saw terrific action and top level basketball as the capital city reds stayed perfect at 5-0 on the season. Sasa Obradovic’s team opened up the game strong as Kenny Lofton Jr., David Roddy along with Jaleen Smith, Devontae Cacok and Shake Milton all filled the basket while Jordan King, Moses Wood, Leopold Delaunay and Lucas Dufeal countered for Le Mans but the reds headed into halftime with a 48-40 lead.

Eitan Burg and Lorenzo Brown began to find the bottom of the basket, Wood filled the basket as did King to snatch a 67-65 lead after thirty minuets of play. Cacok filled the baskets, King scored and kept the hosts close, Roddy went from the outside and Lofton on the inside, Wood drained one from deep but Roddy scored another bucket in the paint to close out the hard earned victory. Lofton scored 15 points, Cacok added 14 points and Roddy scored we points in the win while King scored 20 points and Wood scored 18 points in the win.

Head Coach Sasa Obradovic talked about the victory, “We feel good when we are winning. They were missing some players and we had to deal with some of their lineups that we needed to adjust to including that of small ball. This was a win with our heart and we came into this one after a big win in the Israeli league.”

The game MVP Kenny Lofton spoke about the win, “We continue to focus on ourselves and we had some great execution at the end. Now we head back to our home court next week for a big game against Aris. My confidence is always high and I believe in my teammates and coaches and myself and we will continue to work on ourselves and improve.”