Hapoel Jerusalem downed Bnei Herzliya 102-81 as Justin Smith starred in the Israeli league’s return to action. Yonatan Alon’s squad opened up and early lead and kept pouring in the points throughout the game as Smith along with Khadeen Carrington, Jared Harper and Cassius Winston overwhelmed Yehu Orland’s team.

Smith scored 28 points, Carrington added 20 points and Harper put in 17 points in the win while Omer Sadeh scored 18 points, Daeshon Francis chipped in with 16 points and Frederic Bourdillon scored 13 points in the loss.

Khadeen Carrington got Hapoel Jerusalem off to a good start while Evan Bruinsma, Daeshon Francis and DJ Burns all responded for Bnei Herzliya, but points from Roi Huber, a triple from Roy Paretzky and a Justin Smith dunk gave the hosts a 27-20 lead after ten minutes of play. Jared Harper started to put his mark on the game while Smith filled the basket to his heart’s delight to go up 43-27 but Burns, Frederic Bourdillon and Jordon Varnado cut the lead down to 50-40 by halftime.

Bourdillon and Varnado scored to begin the third quarter, Carrington quickly answered while Cassius Winston and Smith scored to bump up the Jerusalem lead to 74-57 after thirty minutes of action. Francis and Omer Sadeh put in points to get the final frame underway, Winston, Carrington and Smith all came back with baskets, Sadeh kept filling the bucket at the other end, but more points from Carrington and Smith wrapped up the win.

Yonatan Alon spoke about the win, “I wasn’t are what we would see as there was a lot of rust but we did what we needed to in order to pick up the victory. We are in touch with the players who aren’t here and we hope they will return if there will be quiet but we will see as things progress.”

Yehu Orland looked back at the loss, “We knew we had a bit of a short roster and some of the players just arrived. Add to that the injury to Evan Bruinsma hurt us as we didn’t have the size that we needed in order to match up with Jerusalem. I’m happy that we had 23 assists bit we need to improve everything else.”

Jared Harper shared his thoughts “It feels good but a bit weird as we haven’t played in about two months. But it was good to be back playing here at home. I think we have a really good team and an opportunity for guys to step up. We miss the guys who aren’t here but Justin Smith and Dymtro Skapintsev all stepped up.”

Frederic Bourdillon spoke about the defeat, “It’s amazing to come back to play and we really didn’t practice much pre the past two months. In the big picture it’s very important that the sport is back and as for the guys who didn’t come back it’s really personal. We tried to build a team for the playoffs and not just for this game and to compete all the way until the end.”

Elitzur Netanya got by Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion 72-68 as the diamond city squad grabbed an early lead and never looked back to notch the win. Javante McCoy scored 18 points and Otis Frazier added 16 points in the victory while Amin Stevens scored 21 points and DJ Burns put in 17 points in the loss.