Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva 83-81 down south in the desert capital as J’Covan Brown and Tashawn Thomas starred in the win to bump up their perfect Israeli record to 7-0. The capital city Reds for the most part controlled the pace throughout the 40 minutes as they were able to hold on to down Beer Sheva despite captain Spencer Weisz’s superb shooting game from downtown.

Brown scored 20 points, Thomas added 17 points while Tamir Blatt and Suleiman Braimoh each checked in with 10 points as piece in the win. Weisz scored his Beer Sheva high of 25 points, Amit Suss dropped 13 points in what is turning out to be a breakout year for the Under-20 European champion and Eric Griffin chipped in with 11 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

Eric Griffin got Beer Sheva off to a quick start as he scored all of his team’s points to take an early 7-6 lead midway through the first quarter. Jerusalem began hitting from outside and in the paint as Tamir Blatt, Tashawn Thomas and J’Covan Brown all scored 5 points a piece to give Oded Katash’s squad a 18-10 lead after ten minutes.

Eric Griffin – Photo Credit: Basket.co.il

Beer Sheva captain Spencer Weisz scored a trio of triples but Suleiman Briamoh and Ariel kept the capital city Reds ahead 29-21 with 5:41 remaining in the second quarter. But a 9-0 run for Rami Hadar’s team thanks to Amit Suss, James Banks and Neta Segal pulled the hosts to within 1-point, 37-36 at halftime.

Weisz opened up the third quarter with points but Ariel and Braimoh continued to keep Jerusalem ahead 44-43 midway through the third quarter. Weisz, Banks and Amir Bell al scored for Beer Sheva but Brown and Chris Kramer from long distance kept the visitors in the lead 60-59 after thirty minutes.

J’Covan Brown – Photo Credit: Basket.co.il

Thomas began the fourth quarter strong for Jerusalem to help them to a 9-0 run while Brown also found points to increase the lead to 74-63 with 5:12 left in regulation time. Weisz and Bell tried to get Beer Sheva back into the game but just came up short as Brown and Braimoh hit their free throws down the stretch to take the win.

Hapoel Holon got by Tsmoki-Minsk 75-71 in Belarus to even their Champions League record at 2-2. Despite the victory Stefanos Dedas’s squad were unable to overcome the 10 point difference from the last time the two teams faced each other which may come into play when the group stage games come to an end in January and only top two teams of each group moving on to the next round. Chris Johnson continued his fine play with 22 points, his personal Champions League record, CJ Harris added 18 points and Isaiah Miles chipped in with 12 points in the win.