Hapoel Jerusalem fell at AEK Athens 94-78 as their Basketball Champions League best of three quarterfinal series is now all even at 1-1 with the decisive game three slated for next Wednesday back in the capital city. However, the loss was overshadowed by the unfortunate scenes that occurred in the stands as AEK fans burnt Israeli flags, threw rocks and fireworks at the Jerusalem supporters and saluted imprisoned PLO terrorist Marwan Barghouti.

Eyal Homsky who is part of the Hapoel Jerusalem ownership group spoke about the incidents that took place following the game, “We just went through a rough, rough night. I was with you in the stands and saw how mothers protected their children who were in trauma. Rocks were thrown at us and it could have ended worse. Fireworks were thrown at us and it could have burnt people.”

“I spoke to the FIBA management and the referees and I understood that the best way to proceed and avoid people losing their lives in this pogrom was to continue to play. If the game would have stopped, Greek security personnel who are very weak told me that the AEK fans would run into our area of the arena and this could have turned into a catastrophe. It is clear from tipoff that when the rocks and fireworks started being thrown at us that there was no value in the game but for me what was important was that everyone would get out safely from this horrible place.”

On the court, Bryton Lemar found the basket early and often while Levi Randolph tried to keep Aleksandar Dzikic’s squad in the game but Akil Mitchell and Isaiah Miles who both had previously played in Israel came up strong in the second half to help the hosts take the win and send the series back to the Holy Land.

Lemar led the way with 24 points Mitchell added 14 points and Miles chipped in with 13 points in the win while Randolph paced Jerusalem with 28 points in the loss.

“We can pretend that [what occurred] off the court didn’t project on the court,” Dzkic began. “Yes we didn’t play as well, in a moment when everything started it wasn’t like we were not playing well. We reacted the way we reacted and now we know what we need to do in the next game, it’s as simple as that. I am so sorry our fans had to go through that but it happened. We can pretend it never happened but that’s not true.”

Jerusalem captain Itay Segev also spoke about the incidents in the stands and the game itself, “Our fans went through something horrible. Our hearts are with them and we appreciate all of them who spent time and money to be here with us, it helped us a lot and I hope they never have to go through that again. On the court AEK were aggressive and tough and we couldn’t play well throughout the game. We have our third game at home with our fans and I call on everyone to come out and support us.”