Hapoel Tel Aviv outlasted Hapoel Jerusalem 109-100 in a thrilling end-to-end action packed game at a jam packed Drive In Arena. However, prior to tip-off a moving memorial ceremony was held for the Kutz family who were murdered in October 7th by Hamas terrorist in Kfar Aza including two boys, Yonatan and Yiftach who were members of Hapoel Tel Aviv’s youth club.

The Reds renamed their Under-17 Team in their memory as members of the Kutz’s extended family spoke in a stirring moment that was followed by Hatikva.

Franco’s squad may have been short handed due to a variety of injuries to four of their regular players, but the rest of the team stepped up in fine fashion to top the capital city side despite the aforementioned bench boss being ejected while two Jerusalem players in Chris Johnson and Speedy Smith were also sent to the showers early.

Jerusalem, who were without head coach Aleksandar Dzikic who remained in Serbia due to personal reasons were able to weather a strong first quarter from Danny Franco’s squad and took a 56-47 lead into halftime thanks to Chris Johnson’s sharp-shooting from beyond the arc, Zach Hankins inside dominance and Levi Randolph’s deft play.

But an inspired Hapoel Tel Aviv cane out of halftime with top of the lone play from Kyle Alexander, clutch baskets by Idan Zalmanson and points galore from Xavier Munford who notched 20 of his 31 points in the second half to surprise Jerusalem and take the win,

“This will be a game that will be televised in Gold, an instant classic,” Danny Franco said. “Some people will leave here happy and some not, but the most important thing that at a sports event where there was an emotional ceremony for the Kutz family we were able to give them the proper respect and honor in front of a big crowd and then play a game worthy of that as well.”

“Amazing atmosphere, I miss it and we missed it, it was an amazing game,” Jerusalem assistant coach Theo Giannakopoulos said. “It’s hard to swallow that we gave up 109 points as well as the first quarter. The last quarter I take it on me, we lost Chris Johnson and we needed to adjust better. We knew if it would go to Hapoel Tel Aviv’s pace we would have issues and they beat us.”

The MVP Xavier Munford also shared his thoughts about the game, “It was a great game with a great atmosphere with two super competitive teams and it was overall a good win for us. Despite coming in shorthanded, I knew we had a good shot going into the game as we compete hard in practice and I know what these guys are capable of. John Holland stepped up and he has played great the last few games for us as well.”

Zach Hankins also spoke about the game that was, “It’d be easy to blame the refs and we thought there were questionable call but we played no defense and I don’t remember when we gave up 100 points. The other team managed themselves well and played zone. We had great offense and ball movement but when they got the offensive rebounds they scored again. We had slow defensive rotations and this is definitely not the way we can play.”

Munford led the way with 31 points, Holland added 25 points and Alexander chipped in with 19 points in the win. Johnson scored 22 points, Randolph put in 19 points and Hankins dropped 15 points in the loss.

Oz Blayzer with a pair of triples along with points from Levi Randolph gave Hapoel Jerusalem a quick 14-7 lead midway through the first quarter. John Holland was on fire for Hapoel Tel Aviv while Bar Timor and Kyle Alexander also found points for Danny Franco’s side to take a 31-24 lead after ten minutes of play.

Zach Hankins began to get busy inside the paint with points galore, Holland, Alexander and Xavier Munford came right back for the hosts, Chris Johnson dialled up long distance for a trio of corner triples, Brynton Lemar went for a pair from outside while Gaby Chachashvili dunked to end the half to give Hapoel Jerusalem a 56-47 advantage.

Alexander put in a pair of nifty baskets with a mini-hook and then a dunk over Hankins, Timor and Holland went from deep, Johnson drained another pair of 3-pointers from the corner, but Timor, Zalmanson and Munford pulled Tel Aviv to within 2-points, however, Randolph with a deuce and Yovel Zoosman with a triple gave Jerusalem a 80-75 lead after thirty minutes of action.

Zalmanson scored in the paint, Holland went from deep, Speedy Smith did the same, while Johnson knocked down his 6th 3-pointer of the game, Zalmanson showed no quit for Tel Aviv but Franco was issued his second technical and was ejected from the game while another deuce by Smith gave Jerusalem a 92-86 lead with 5:20 remaining in regulation time.

Munford went from downtown out of the timeout and added another from long distance to give Hapoel Tel Aviv a 95-92 lead as Johnson was ejected with his second technical. Smith came right back from beyond the arc, Munford then put in a deuce and a quartet of free throws, Zoosman drained a pair from the charity stripe and drilled home a triple from dead center to pull Jerusalem to within a single point, 101-100 with 1:04 remaining. However, Holland banked a 3-pointer off the glass while Smith was ejected with his second technical allowing Munford and Alexander to score from the line and wrap up the win.

Hapoel Eilat upended Maccabi Ramat Gan 83-80 by the Red Sea as Sacar Anim scored 38 points to help lead his squad to the tight win. After a close first quarter, Eilat opened up a 45-33 lead at halftime. However, Ramat Gan came back over the course of the third quarter to make a game of it and head into the final frame down by only a trio of points. But it wasn’t meant to be as Anim was unstoppable and Elijah Stewart scored in bunches over the last period to help Max Menetti to the win.

Anim scored 38 points, Stewart added 23 points and Koren Jorno scored 12 points in the win. Alex Hamilton paced Ramat Gan with 23 points while Isaiah Miles and Adam Ariel each scored 19 points in the loss.