Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Bnei Herzliya 85-80 to get back onto the winning track after having been eliminated from European competition as well as having parted ways with head coach Ilias Kantzouris. Levi Randolph was all over the court and scored points a plenty throughout the game as Khadeen Carrington and Zach Hankins looked to be getting back into form.

Hapoel Jerusalem and Bnei Herzliya played neck and neck throughout the first half as Hankins, Carrington and Chris Johnson all found points for the Reds while Reggie Lynch got busy inside and Adrian Banks scored as well for the hosts but a Randolph triple gave the visitors a 40-37 advantage at halftime. The Reds started to pull away in the their quarter as the same quartet of players kept filling the basket for Shai Olerarczyk’s squad while Mike McGuirl and Banks tried to keep the Dan Shamir’s team close, however, their late push wasn’t enough as Jerusalem took the win.

Randolph scored 25 points, Carrington added 17 points and Hankins chipped in with 16 points in the win. Banks scored 23 points, Lynch checked in with 20 points and McGuirl scored 16 points in the loss.

“We needed this game a lot and the guys really deserved it,” Jerusalem head coach Shai Olerarczyk said. “There were many minutes where we defended properly and the commitment and desire was there along with the intensity from the squad. We are all together and while I am the head coach right now, Theo Giannakopoulos is with us as is Yonatan Alon and we are all in this together.”

The game MVP Levi Randolph spoke about the victory, “We for sure needed this W, that was the focus as we had to get back onto the winning track. We just want to continue to work and stay together. There are a lot of ups and downs in the basketball season and you just try to go out and get better.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva downed Hapoel Galil Elyon 87-80 as southern Reds head coach Oren Aharoni picked up his first victory as the club’s bench boss. The Galilee squad jumped out to an early 25-15 lead but Beer Sheva came storming back to take a 43-41 advantage at halftime and never looked back to chalk up the victory.

Grant Sherfield scored 19 points, JaKeenan Gant added 16 points and Mike Lewis scored 15 points in the win. Roi Huber recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 assists while Omar Silverio also scored 15 points in the loss.