Hapoel Jerusalem demolished Hapoel Beer Sheva 94-66 as the capital city Reds used tough defense during the third quarter to limit the southern squad to just 9 points while going 15/26 from beyond the arc over the course of the game to coast to the win.

Dainius Adomaitis saw his squad feature six players in double digits as Adam Ariel and Tamir Blatt ket the way with 15 points a piece, Tashawn Thomas, Malcolm Hill and Idan Zalmanson each scored 12 points while Suleiman Braimoh chipped in with ten points as Jerusalem pulled down 40 rebounds and dished out 24 assists. Caleb Agada led Rami Hadar’s team with 17 points and Eric Griffin added 10 points in the loss.

“I think defense was the key and their offensive rebounds in the first half were killing us,” explained Adomaitis.” They had some open looks but we played aggressive defense and it paid off in the second half as we scored some easy baskets. I like how we shared the ball and were finding good looks.”

“At some point the game just got away from us,” said Hadar. “We played Jerusalem tight every time we faced them this season but we made decisive mistakes. This isn’t an easy league, but I like what I have and I believe in my team.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva took an early lead to get the first quarter underway as Eric Griffin, Spencer Weisz and Caleb Agada all hit 3-pointers but a pair of triples by Adam Ariel helped Hapoel Jerusalem snatch a 22-21 lead after ten minutes of play.

Malcolm Hill from the outside and Tashawn Thomas from the inside gave the capital city Reds a 31-25 advantage midway through the second quarter as Agada and Travis Warech tried to keep pace but Tamir Blatt and Hill kept scoring from downtown as Jerusalem took a 48-37 lead into halftime.

Suleiman Braimoh scored in the paint, Hill nailed a corner triple and Thomas put the ball in off the glass as Jerusalem bumped their lead up to 60-41 with 5:07 left in the third quarter. Weisz and Natan Jurkowitz scored to try and keep Beer Sheva in the game but Idan Zalmanson powered points inside while Blatt and Ariel went from downtown to give Dainius Adomaitis’s squad a commanding 74-46 lead after thirty minutes of play.

Ariel and Jamil Wilson went from beyond the arc, Thomas scored a spin-a-rama bucket in the paint and Zalmanson added points as Jerusalem ran away with the 28-point win.