Hapoel Jerusalem defeated STAL Ostrow 83-76 in what can be called an “ugly win” at home to notch their first Basketball Champions League win of the season and moved their record to 1-3.

But as they say, a win is a win is a win no matter how you find a way to pick up the victory.

Although the “ugly win” helped them stay alive as they battle for a play in spot to advance to the next round, they didn’t beat the Polish team by enough to make up the 11-point differential from the first game between the two teams. This could be very costly should they be tied at the end of the 6-game group stage phase as STAL now owns the tie-breaker. Of course a couple of road wins at Karsiyaka and Manresa would do the trick to take the Reds into the following round, but that is still a very, very tall task.

Jerusalem spotted STAL a nice lead over the a very tough first half, tough to play as well as very tough to watch for the viewer, but not only cut down the advantage by the end of the third quarter they even got hot enough where they had a chance to make up the 11-points. However, that was until Jalen Adams committed a costly foul with 20 seconds remaining and Jerusalem holding a 83-74 lead wiping out any chance of finding a way to score those valuable extra points.

“We all know the situation,” Itay Segev said. “Unfortunately we didn’t get to the exact result we had wanted. Jalen had a good game and it was a mistake which wasn’t done intentionally. He has a great future ahead of him and what was done, was done, mistakes happen and I am happy that we got over it.”
This was in essence a win for STAL as their head coach Igor Milicic explained, “We feel we won the game and it was a small win for us especially how we played the second half as we had to lose by less than 11 points. Now we have two home games and our home crowd will help us be our 6th man.”

But putting that aside, it wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t sexy, but it was a win, just the way Willy Workman likes it; the art of the ugly win by the player that thrives in those types of games after scoring 11 points and grabbing 4 rebounds while looking like the Willy we saw all of last season under Stafanos Dedas with Hapoel Holon.

“We played a good second half after a tough first half and we came back from 8 points down. We showed a lot of character and we didn’t play well but we still got the W. We played with more confidence, more energy,” Workman said.

“Our goal is not just use energy to cover our flaws, we want to turn them into strengths. Since the coaching change we are getting better, every good team wins games ugly, you may not play your best basketball.”

Part of the reason Jerusalem is playing really ugly as they shot 9/33 from beyond the arc which ended up actually being a good showing following a brutal, brutal first half from deep having taken two-thirds of their attempts in the first half.

The MVP of the game, Retin Obasohan chalked up the win as yet another victory for the team as they continue to mesh and jell together no matter how it was accomplished, “All of the teams that have done something special see that not all of the wins are pretty. The true testament of a team is to win a variety of games and that way you’ll end up winning more than losing and these are the games we want to win. Hopefully we will keep winning. This was definitely a character win.”

The other reason the Reds are playing the way they are is because let’s face it the team is still trying to find their identity and they weren’t built properly missing certain players in some positions and not being able to maximize others.

It was clear in the post game press conference that interim coach Yotam Halperin is looking to make some changes to the squad in order to find that equilibrium, “There’s no question the team isn’t balanced enough and we are missing some players at certain positions. But we still have to bring what we did today. Slowly but surely we will do what we have to in order to improve the team.”

So changes are a foot and it wouldn’t surprise this scribe if one if not two moves are made well in advance of their next BCL game which is slated for December 6th in Izmir. There is no way Jerusalem can afford to keep Thon Maker on the roster when he plays 2:29 minutes in a crucial continental clash and doesn’t dress in Israeli league action. Of course, there is also a financial piece to the pie that would have to be worked out as well, so right now Jerusalem has an extra cheerleader riding the pine for at least the time being.

What is also clear is that Obasohan, who had a tough first half came back strong and showed why he has been the most consistent player and arguably the most important player as well for the team that have shown confidence in the Belgian.

“It’s all about belief and I am so happy with the guys I have in my circle from top to bottom and they believe in me. I try to show them that they are right that they believe in me and I am glad it has turned out that way. It’s a step in the right direction and we got that monkey off of our back by wining in the Champions League. We can build on that and the wins that we got in the Israeli league and hopefully that will turn into something special.”

Now it’s on to the final two group games with Manresa in first place with a perfect 4-0 record and Karsiyaka in second with a record of 2-2 followed by STAL and Jerusalem at 1-3 a piece. But as they say, it ain’t over until it’s over Workman said.

“You always want to win every game by as many points as possible. We have to focus now on our next game and we have to go to Turkey and Spain, if we get two wins I think we will get through.”

Does it matter how Jerusalem really wins? Segev doesn’t think so, “An ugly win is a win and against Gilboa it was the same case where the basketball was difficult to watch. But at the end of the day no one remembers if we won ugly or nice.”

A win is a win is a win.