Hapoel Jerusalem clipped San Pablo Burgos 85-84 in Spain as the Reds improved their record to 3-0 in EuroCup play. Kenny Lofton Jr. was at the center of attention once again and helped build up Sasa Obradovic’s confidence to pick up the win. Jerusalem jumped out to an early lead with Lofton, Jaleen Smith and Devontae Cacok all finding points, but Joaquin Taboada, Sekpu Doumbouya and Christian Sengfelder kept the hosts close and took a one-point lead with the clock ticking down. However, Jerusalem was able to fend off the late game rally and closed out the victory.

Lofton scored 28 points, Smith put in 13 points and Cacok added 11 points in the win while, Taboada scored 20 points as Doumbouya and Sengfelder each scored 15 points in the loss.

Jerusalem Head Coach Sasa Obradovic looked back at the win, “The plan was to win the game and we won it. We had to react to their switching defense and it was not easy to play against them. They can stretch the floor, but at the end of the day we found a way to take this win. The team game was very good and we are going to improve but we found the way to score and the chemistry was good so I am happy with this one.”

Jaleen Smith talked about the victory, “This was our second tight game and we started together pretty well at the end, but we have room to improve.”

Joaquin Taboada opened the scoring for Burgos, Dusan Miletic and Kenny Lofton answered for Hapoel Jerusalem while Sekou Doumbouya found points as did Jaleen Smith with a pair from deep to give the Reds a 24-18 lead after ten minutes of play. Yovel Zoosman, Devontae Cacok and Smith continued to score, DJ Steward countered, Lofton started to score at will as Christian Sengfelder kept the hosts close with the first half ending 46-39.

Cacok kept scoring as did Lofton, Dusan Radosavljevic and Doumbouya along with Sengfelder pushed the hosts into the lead midway through the third quarter, Lofton, Smith and David Roddy all woke up and quickly responded by putting Jerusalem in the drivers seat with a 70-59 advantage after thirty minutes of action.

Taboada and DJ Steward scored to cut down the red’s lead Lofton came back with points, Shake Milton hit a big triple down he stretch and David Roddy dunked to put the matchup out of reach and notch the win.