Valencia thumped Hapoel Jerusalem 80-64 to send the reds to an opening game loss in a game that got away from Yonatan Alon’s squad very early on. In what was Jerusalem’s home game being played in Samokov, Bulgaria due to the security situation in Israel, Pedro Martinez’s team took an early lead but the hosts responded to keep the game close. However, the Spanish side was able to take a double-digit lead by the end of the first frame and never look back to notch the win.

Nate Sestina got off to a fast start for Valencia with a pair of triples, Jared Harper responded for Hapoel Jerusalem as Justin Smith and Matt Costello traded baskets but it was the Spaniards that grabbed a 26-14 lead after ten minutes of play. Xabi Lopez-Arostegui got busy for Pedro Martinez’s squad to begin the second quarter, Jean Montero added points as well while Yovel Zoosman and Austin Wiley tried to keep Yonatan Alon’s close but Valencia went into halftime holding a 45-28 advantage.

Speedy Smith and Jared Harper started to cut into the visitors lead as the third quarter got underway, Nate Sestina, Lopez-Arostegui and Costello all responded as Smith tried to keep Jerusalem close but headed into the final frame 59-45 after thirty minute of action. Nate Reuvers began the fourth quarter with a basket, Harper scored at will to try to cut down the Valencia lead but a Costello triple quelled the comeback while Montero and Semi Ojeleye scored to wrap up the victory.

Harper led the way with 27 points, Smith added 10 points and Wiley chipped in with 8 points in the loss. Costello scored 16 points, Ojeleye scored 12 points while Sestina and Montero each dropped 10 points a piece in the win.

“Sometimes you lose the game in the first quarter and the first half, we dug a hole in the first quarter in the last three minutes. On top of this they took 23 offensive rebounds and you can’t win like this. I think we need to play better defense and we did in that in the 2nd half. We have to improve our offense as well, but every week we are going to get better,” Hapoel Jerusalem bench boss Yonatan Alon said.

“We played consistent defense and played good on offense, we missed some good 3’s and that hurt our confidence that gave them a chance too run, but all in all we took the win,” Valencia head coach Pedro Martinez said after the game.

Noam Dovrat also spoke about the game that was, “Of course we are disappointed and we didn’t execute how we had wanted to. We gave them too much freedom didn’t do what we needed to, but we will learn from this game as it’s only the first one. We will see what we need to improve on one use that as a learning experience for the upcoming games.”