Hapoel Jerusalem slipped by Hapoel Holon 87-85 in a hotly contested battle that saw Jalen Adams score the game winning basket with just seconds remaining on the clock to top off a 34-point performance to take the win. In what was a neck and neck battle all game long Adams paced the Reds throughout the first half to stay close to Holon’s trio of guards, Joe Ragland, Tyrus McGee and Adam Smith as the hosts held a 49-44 lead at halftime.

However, Jerusalem veteran KC Rivers took over in third quarter alon with Retin Obasohan to give Yotam Halperin’s squad a 1-point, 68-67 advantage by the end of the third quarter. As time ran down in the final frame, Smith drilled home a wide open 3-pointer to tie up the game at 85-85, but the unstoppable Adams took a Noam Dovrat inbounds pass from under the basket and hit the winner just outside of the key and off of the baseline to take the victory.

Adams led the way with 34 points, Suleiman Braimoh added 15 points, Rivers chipped in with 13 points while Obasohan checked in with a 10 point and 10 assist double-double. McGee paced Guy Goodes’s team with 22 points, Smith added 20 points and Ragland scored 18 points in the tough defeat.

“This was an important win on a truly difficult arena,” Jerusalem coach Yotam Halperin said. “The fans did a great job with a terrific atmosphere and I have to credit the players as it’s not easy to play in Holon.”

“You could see the exhaustion and there’s not much to do as we are all human beings,” Holon bench boss Guy Goodes explained. “I want to come into the game on Wednesday in the best shape possible both mentally and physically so that we can make history. We have to make one more push.”

The game MVP Jalen Adams reflected on the win, “It feels great and you can’t ask for much more than this. As a child you dream of big games like this and Holon is an excellent team. It was tough to score against their defense and I like to play against guys like Tyrus McGee who is a great player. We had some trash talk but that also brings out motivation. All in all it was good.”

3-Pointers
1) Jalen Adams looked terrific as he scored at will in Holon, chalking up 34 points from every which angle. Scoring from deep, scoring from two, scoring the winner and on and on and on. Adams had a bit of a everything in this game after a couple of what he would probably consider subpar performances. But Adams has been the real deal all season long and deserves a chance to head to the NBA which was something former Reds assistant coach Ryan Pannone told me before the season started after having coached him in the G-League.

Yotam Halperin spoke about what he sees in Adams’ abilities, “I’ve had the luck and honor to play with some of the greatest players during my career and Jalen is without question is one of the most talented that I have seen. When he cones in to the game aggressively, it’s very hard to play against him and I am very happy for him because he works very hard. He now had to continue that way.”

Veteran center Itay Segev also talked about what Adams is able to do on the court, “Jalen is special. Not only is a great player but he is also a terrific person. I’m happy that he’s here and that he is able to bring his qualities to the forefront. I have seen him every day and how he has developed all season long. He makes good decisions and I am happy that he was hitting his shots.”

2) “We finished the month of March having played 10 games in 27 days,” Guy Goodes explained. “To have a success rate of 70%+ is not simple and on Saturday we have another game against Herzliya and another contest on Wednesday where we could make history. We played a number of top teams and that will be good preparation for Strasbourg.”

It’s all true and it’s not simple to be bale to navigate such a jammed packed schedule. Game after game after game and like Goodes had said the players are just human. Playing to make games takes a toll on a team and a team that is quite limited in its depth. Steve Zack and Hayden Dalton will probably be dressed for Herzliya, a team that spanked Holon in the State Cup and Goodes will have another challenge on his hands regardless.

He won’t want to se his team the way they played last Saturday night at Galil Elyon but he’s going to have to trust some of the same players from that game in this one to play at their best possible level which is going to be a challenge. But as the bench boss said the club is looking to make history and advance to the Basketball Champions League and that is the #1 priority.

3) This was a great game, a great, great game. Unfortunately, the contest was played at 8pm which overlapped with Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Euroleague matchup against Villeurbanne in a game that saw the Yellow & Blue clinch a postseason berth. Holon vs Jerusalem instead took a massive backseat to Maccabi and was also placed on a pay channel Sport 5 Live which limited the audience even further. With such a marquee matchup in Holon and Jerusalem it’s surprising that both the league and the TV rights holder would play the game head to head with Maccabi and to add insult to injury have to pay a premium to watch it in the process. Hopefully the two parties will consider this issue a bit more the next time a potential conflict like this comes up which may be sooner rather than later.