Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Holon 84-68 at Yad Eliyahu on Saturday night. The game was closely contested in the first half, with Holon taking a slim 36-33 into the main break. However, the Reds dominated the second half, particularly in the fourth quarter where they outscored the Purples 20-8 to secure the victory.

Yam Madar (25 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 block), Jonathan Motley (13 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists) and Tomer Ginat (12 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists) led the scoring for Hapoel Tel Aviv, while Mike Davis (13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 6 steals) and Michale Kyser (12 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist) were Holon’s top-scorer.

“We showed great resilience and teamwork in the second half,” game MVP Yam Madar said after the win.

“Our defense was solid in the first half, but we couldn’t maintain the momentum,” Davis said of the loss.

Next up for the Reds will be a EuroCup quarterfinal single game elimination date against Turk Telekom in Samokov, Bulgaria as Dimitrios Itoudis’s team will look to move into the best-of-3 semifinals where Valencia or Cluj would be waiting.

On Thursday night, Hapoel Jerusalem recorded a 82-75 victory over Maccabi Ramat Gan at Zisman Arena.

While Jerusalem led for most of the game after starting the game 11-3, they could not break away from Ramat Gan, with the home team even taking a brief lead in the final quarter. However, Jerusalem’s Jared Harper and Khadeen Carrington were pivotal in the final moments, scoring 20 of the team’s 24 points in the last quarter.

Harper (23 points, 1 rebound and 6 assists), Carrington (17 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal), Justin Smith (10 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals) and Yovel Zoosman (10 points, 2 assists and 2 steals) led the scoring for Jerusalem, while Adam Ariel (15 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist), Kendale McCullum (13 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists) and Amin Stevens (14 points, 6 rebounds) led the stats for Ramat Gan.

“I’m happy that we won,” Jerusalem coach Yonatan Alon said after the game. “Thank you to the League and to Ramat Gan, who agreed to bring the game forward for us [due to the EuroCup quarterfinal next week]. They worked for this and it’s great for Israeli basketball to be managed so well.”

“Disappointing,” Ramat Gan coach Shmulik Brenner summed up the game. “We played well in the second half, but we didn’t have enough confidence in the first quarter. We didn’t play well enough later in the game, but we were there. We need to be better in the beginning and start games with the same energy and aggressiveness.”

“A good win overall,” Harper said after his MVP performance. “Last time they beat us [86-87 in early January in Jerusalem], so it was good to come in and get the win.”

“In the first quarter we gave them too much confidence and we didn’t play well enough to beat Hapoel Jerusalem,” Ramat Gan captain Ariel said. “In the second half we made adjustments. At the end, it came down to possessions. Harper and Kadim played well. We’l get better and I hope that when we get there we will be prepared.”

Hapoel Jerusalem are now in their final preparations for their quarterfinal EuroCup clash against Gran Canaria in Belgrade on Tuesday (21:00 IST, 15:00 EDT).

“This is where we wanted to get to, the knockout stage,” Alon said. “Gran Canaria is a very deep team, they play very Spanish basketball.”

“I played in Spain previously [for Valencia], so I’ve played against Gran Canaria a lot,” Harper said. “They were our rivals. They’re a good team offensively and defensively – like Spanish teams. It comes down to how we play as a team. We fought hard for the 2 seed and had a bye for the first week of the playoffs. We’ll take advantage and try to get the win.”