Hapoel Jerusalem got by Bahcesehir 90-82 as Jared Harper and Austin Wiley scored key baskets down the stretch to close out the win. Harper, Justin Smith and Yovel Zoosman came out flying in the first half for Hapoel Jerusalem while Malachi Flynn countered for Bahcesehir but the reds grabbed a 48-41 lead at halftime.

Zoosman and Smith continued to score as did Flynn but Tyler Cavanaugh and Hunter Hale put the Turkish squad in front, however, Harper with a triple and Austin Wiley with a pair of baskets sewed up the win for Jerusalem. Harper scored 25 points, Smith added 16 points and Wiley scored 14 points in the win while Flynn scored 28 points in the defeat.

Hapoel Jerusalem Head Coach Yonatan Alon spoke about the victory, “It’s a big win and good result for us, but we can still play must better, we are on our way and we will get there but for now it was enough. Our key was that we played quicker and did things well defensively, we turned the ball over only 6 times. This win should be a boost, but this is the life of the team and we had some unnecessary tough losses, but now hopefully we are on the way up.”

The game MVP Jared Harper also talked about the positive result, “It’s big win for us as they are first in the group but we are here to prove that we are one of the best teams in the competition. I think we did a good job on both sides and battled adversity as they got back into the game, but we stayed together and did the right things to get the win.”