Hapoel Jerusalem sunk Hapoel Eilat 103-85 as half a dozen Reds finished in double digits in the win. The capital city squad needed time to pull away from the pesky Red Sea side after a tight first half, but Levi Randolph, Khadeen Carrington and Yovel Zoosman were able to overcome terrific play from Jeremy Senglin and Elijah Stewart to chalk up the victory. The game also saw the return of guard Noam Dovrat after having suffered a knee injury close to a year and a half ago as well as a special ceremony that was held to honor the 20th Anniversary of the Hapoel Jerusalem team that captured the ULEB Cup.

Following the game, Jerusalem announced that they had signed Alex Tyus for the balance of the season. The Israeli big man played for Runa in the VTB League where he scored 7.6 points and grabbed 4.7 rebounds in 40 games for the Moscow based club.

Randolph scored 22 points, Carrington added 16 points, JaCorey Williams put in 14 points and Zoosman chipped in with 13 points in the win. Senglin scored 27 points and Stewart added 24 points in the loss.

“I was certainly more satisfied with the second half,” Jerusalem head coach Yonatan Alon said, “We didn’t defend poorly in the first half but they just scored some crazy shots, they went 7/7 from three which we haven’t seen in quote some time, credit to them for that. The offensive flow of our game has been working better and the guys like to compliment one another.”

The game MVP Levi Randolph also spoke about the win, “We just want to get back to getting stops off defense, that’s what we talked about in the lockerroom. They still made a run and they have good players and are coached well, so we had to withstand that and continue to play our game.”

Elijah Stewart got busy for Hapoel Eilat while Yovel Zoosman hit a pair of triples for Hapoel Jerusalem, a Khadeen Carringron went from the inside and outside, Stewart again went for a pair from deep but Chris Johnson popped in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the reds a 26-24 lead after ten minutes.

Stewart led off the second quarter from downtown, Levi Randolph responded, Jeremy Senglin also dialled up for a pair from long distance, Carrington went from deep and JaCorey Williams dunked, Carrington put in a 3-point play but yet another 3-pointer and-one from Sterwart knotted the game up at 50-50 at halftime.

Williams began the third quarter with points, Randolph went from deep, Zoosman put in a 3-point play, JuJuan Johnson hit a pair of midrange jumpers, Cornelius and Johnson came back with points while Senglin went for a quartet from deep, but Speedy Smith scored his first points of the game as Jerusalem stayed in front 78-71 after thirty minutes of action.

Smith hit a deuce to get the fourth quarter rolling, Art Zablin went from the inside and outside, Randolph and Cornelius went from deep, Chris Johnson dialled up long distance and Williams found points as well to wrap up the victory.