Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva 88-74 as the Reds broke away near the end of the first half to cruise to the win. Shake Milton, Yovel Zoosman and Dusan Miletic all scored early on for Hapoel Jerusalem, Christian Coleman, Ofri Shitrit and Noam Avivi responded to knot the game up 30-30 but points from Kenny Lofton Jr., Eitan Burg and Lorenzo Brown gave the Reds a 42-34 lead at halftime.

Brown paced Sasa Obradovic’s team to a quick 9-0 run to begin the third quarter, Brian Cameron answered with 8 points of his own, Nimrod Levi drained a pair of baskets while David Roddy scored in bunches while Lofton added points as well to close out the game. Roddy scored 16 points as Lofton, Milton and Brown all scored 11 points in the win while MJ Walker, Coleman and Avivi each had 11 points in the loss.

Jerusalem Head Coach Sasa Obradovic reflected on the win, “I wasn’t really happy with the first half and the approach to the game. We came in sloppy and not focussed. Even if the team we played didn’t have big name guys we have to be serious. The second half we were better, but we had to take this game better. We are a new team but we have to be better with the approach. It was great to have the fans with us.”

Beer Sheva Head Coach Doug Spradley looked back at the loss, “Jerusalem was more aggressive and physical for forty minutes but I’m not one for excuses and we have to deal with the players that can play. At times we were ok and other times we had five guys on the perimeter and watching. We are still finding our way.”

Dusan Miletic discussed the victory, “I feel we opened the game well but had some ups and downs and allowed them to play there game, we lost the rhythm and made some mistakes. In the second half we played better and we were on the same page. We won but this was not a good game which is great because we can improve. If we want to be the champions we have to be on the same page.”

MJ Walker also spoke about the game, “We waited too late to get into the game and we didn’t match them intensity. We needed to be able to control their runs a bit better. We have to work on our communication, we are giving a good effort but there was some miscommunications and they have good players and had some set plays.”