Hapoel Jerusalem slipped by Hapoel Holon 115-112 in a thriller that saw end to end basketball for the full forty minutes of action. The Reds used a 44 point second quarter thanks to J’Covan Brown and Jakes Feldeine to build up a significant lead but Holon kept chipping away and just came up short as Manny Harris missed a potential game tying 3-pointer at the final buzzer.

Brown led Oded Katash’s squad with 27 points and 8 assists, James Feldeine added 24 points while Suleiman Braimoh chipped in with 22 points in the win. Marcus Foster was the game’s high scorer with 37 points, TJ Cline scored 22 points while Joe Alexander added 18 points for Stafanos Dedas’s team.

Joe Alexander cleaned up two misses by Yogev Ohayon in the paint for Holon while Hapoel Jerusalem’s guard Tamir Blatt got off with a bang drilling home a corner triple over his National Team teammate Guy Pnini to get the first quarter underway. J’Covan Brown almost pulled off a beauty of a pack and role with Sulieman Braimoh but the forward’s attempted dunk flew off the rim right back to Brown who drilled home a triple while Alexander picked up points at the other end of the floor to stay in front 8-6 midway through the first quarter. TJ Cline scored for Holon but Feldeine answered with a 3-pointer, however, Marcus Foster nailed a trio from deep as well as Holon took a 27-20 lead after ten minutes.

Feldeine scored a pair of triples, Zalmanson put down a dunk while Shelvin Mack scored as well but Foster was again up to the task as was Cline and Alexander as Holon hung on to a one point lead 35-34 with six minutes left in the second quarter. Brown drained another two from behind the arc and Braimoh scored an alleyoop for Oded Katash’s squad as the Reds went ahead 44-38 with 3:53 remaining until halftime. Brown hit a pullback jumper from the top of the key, Feldeine dropped his fifth and sixth 3-pointers of game and Bar Timor got in on the act with a triple as well to send the Reds into the half with a 61-48 advantage.

Cline opened the third quarter with points in the paint and Foster scored a 3-pointer but Feldeine and Brown did the same at the other end of the court while Braimoh and Nimrod Levi added points as well to give Jerusalem a commanding 78-62 lead midway through the frame. Mack put in a layup for the Reds but Foster, Alexander and Cline kept Holon competitive, however Jerusalem took an 89-79 advantage after thirty minutes.

Brown scored a jumper, Mack drilled a triple and Brown scored one as well for the Reds but Holon stayed tough with points from deep by Shlomi Harush and Cline to get the fourth quarter underway. Mack picked up an unsportsmanlike foul and was ejected due to an earlier technical foul but Jerusalem still led 99-90 with 6:40 left in regulation time. Foster and Pnini found the bottom of the basket after a pair of wide open Jerusalem misses but Thomas put down a dunk to keep the lead 105-97 with 2:38 remaining. Cline, Foster and Harush all continued to score for Holon, but key free throws by Braimoh, Brown and Feldeine and a missed Manny Harris 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Jerusalem the hard earned win.