Hapoel Jerusalem just got by Hapoel Galil Elyon 84-80 in overtime as Jared Harper put on a show in the second half and iced the game from the free line in the extra session to give the Reds the hard earned win. Guni Israeli’s team came out strong with Lior Carreira and Rawle Alkins controlling the pace of play but Derek Ogbeide, Or Cornelius and Yovel Zoosman put Yonatan Alon’s squad in front 37-28 at halftime.

Jared Harper began scoring at will but Carreira and Alkins along with Marcus Carr tied the game up at 72-72 to send the contest into the extra session. In overtime, Harper kept finding the bottom of the basket including a pair of free throws to close out the 4-point victory.

Harper scored 29 points, Zoosman added 16 points and Ogbeide chipped in with 11 points in the win. Carreira scored 25 points, Alkins put in 18 points and Carr scored 15 points in the loss.

“We can take a lot out of this game,” Jerusalem Head Coach Yonatan Alon said. “We will no doubt learn some things about being aggressive and how to come better into a game because this is not the way we should be playing. I don’t know why this happened but we at least came away with the win.”

“I’m proud of my guys and the squad that was here in this game,” Galil Elyon Head Coach Guni Izraeli said. “We didn’t want to give them a chance to score easy points and we played tight defense as we are a low scoring team and we wanted to stop them at 70 points. We had some trouble dealing with the bigs without Lennard Freeman but all in all I have to really congratulate the guys even though I don’t like morale victories.”

Yovel Zoosman talked about how his team needed to put in a better effort, “We weren’t aggressive enough and we can see it in our percentages and the 50/50 balls. Galil wanted this game more. We have to know how to finish off a game and it would have been a very big shock for us to lose to Galil Elyon. We have to come to work everyday.”

Rawle Alkins spoke about the game from his point of view, “Jerusalem is a tough team. They play in the EuroCup and they have great players both Israelis and Americans as well as a deep roster. We had to deal with some injuries with our big man Lennard Freeman being out but Lior Carreira and Yonatan Atias had big minutes. We are a bunch of dogs, we believe in each other and wherever we go we have a chance to beat everyone.”

Lior Carreira had the hot hand for Hapoel Galil Elyon early on but points from Derek Ogbeide and Yovel Zoosman kept Hapoel Jerusalem ahead 17-15 after ten minutes of play. Lucas Goldenberg and Rawle Alkins kept Guni Israeli’s team close but points from Or Cornelius, Ogbeide and Zoosman bumped up the Reds advantage to 37-28 at halftime.

Jared Harper tried to put his mark on the game while Jeremy Morgan also picked up points but Carreira scored at will, however, a Zoosman corner 3-ball at the buzzer kept Yonatan Alon’s team in front 53-50 after thirty minutes of action. Carreira and Alkins kept pouring in points, Harper and Khadeen Carrington responded but Marcus Carr hit some huge baskets down the stretch to send the game to overtime all knotted up at 72-72.

Harper hit a deuce and added free throws, Alkins went from deep, Shachar Amir put in a layup, but Harper dropped a pair from the charity stripe to close out the game for Jerusalem.

Elitzur Netanya downed Maccabi Ramat Gan 95-89 to take the home win. The visitors came out flying with 8 triples in a row for their first 24 points as Roi Huber, Isaiah Miles and Roberto Gallinat led the way but Kyler Edwards, Itay Moskovitz and Carlos Marshall countered to close the gap to 54-49 at halftime. Gallinat and Huber continued to pace Shmulik Brenner’s team but Edwards and Bryce Washington powered Idan Avshalom’s squad into the lead for good.

Edwards scored 23 points, Marshall added 19 points and Bryce Washington scored 16 points in the win. Gallinat scored 19 points and Huber chipped in with 18 points and 10 assists in the loss.

The game MVP Kyler Edwards spoke about the win following the game, “We played hard and defended to come out with the win. We all want it, I want to play with guys who want to win. We focused in and stoped their 3’s and we contained them at the end.”

Bnei Herzliya defeated Hapoel Haifa 109-101 up by the Carmel Mountain as six players scored in double digits. Tyler Bey, Willy Workman and Jon Davis got Hapoel Haifa off to a good start but Chris Silva, Josh Hawley and Ethan Burg kept the game close as the hosts led 55-54 at halftime however, John Meeks and Jimmy Clark’s second half performances gave Yehu Orland’s side a double digit lead as they coasted to the victory. Meeks scored 26 points, Clark added 18 points, 9 assists and 9 steals while Ethan Burg scored 19 points in the win while Tyler Bey scored 30 points in the loss.

Nes Ziona won a high scoring affair over Hapoel Beer Sheva 107-97 as Darnell Edge and Bryce Brown propelled the hosts to the victory. The southern reds gave all kinds if issues to Amit Sherf’s team as Ron Zipper and Ray Spalding paced the visitors to a 54-46 lead at halftime, but the dynamic duo of Edge and Brown took over in the second half to come away with the win. Edge and Brown scored 29 points a piece while Zipper notched a career high 23 points.