{"id":180348,"date":"2026-05-31T13:28:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T13:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/?p=180348"},"modified":"2026-05-31T20:30:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T20:30:27","slug":"hapoel-jerusalem-downs-hapoel-haemek-82-71-take-1-0-qf-series-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/hapoel-jerusalem-downs-hapoel-haemek-82-71-take-1-0-qf-series-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"Hapoel Jerusalem downs Hapoel HaEmek 82-71, take 1-0 QF series lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hapoel Jerusalem downed Hapoel HaEmek 82-71 to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-3 quaterfinal series. Justin Smith score early and often in the win as the reds will now try to close out the series up in Gan Ner on Tuesday.
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Credit Omri Zangen<\/p><\/div>
\nHaEmek grabbed an early lead thanks to fine play by Nick Ogenda, but Justin Smith scored multiple highlight reel baskets and Jared Harper also filled the bucket to push Hapoel Jerusalem in front 18-16 after ten minutes of play. Ogenda dunked at will while Brandon Johnson and Gil Noyovitch also scored but Harper, Smith and Isaiah Mobley all responded however, points from Rafi Menco and Max Brooks put Sharon Avrahami\u2019s squad ahead 39-35 at halftime.
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Khadeen Carrington – Photo credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nJerusalem opened the third quarter with a trio of triples as Khadeen Carrington scored from deep, while Xavier Sneed put down an alley-oop and went from downtown while Smith dunked and Tzuf Ben Moshe buried a pair from beyond the arc to give Yonatan Alon\u2019s team a 65-48 lead. Menco and Ogenda cut the lead down to 70-67 midway through the final frame but Smith and Roi Huber found the bottom of the basket while Mobley nailed a corner 3-ball to close out the game.
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Credit: Omri Zangen<\/p><\/div>
\nSmith scored 21 points, Carrington put in 13 points and Harper added 11 points in the victory while Ogenda scored 16 points and Rafi Menco chipped in with 14 points in the loss.
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Yonatan Alon – Photo credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nJerusalem Head Coach Yonatan Alon looked back at the win, \u201cThere were no real surprises and we were ready for them. We needed make sure that we were able to win this game, but we came out flat in the first quarter. We didn\u2019t move the ball around well enough but we corrected that in the second half. We will need to do what we did the last couple of games in order to close out the series on the road.\u201d
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Sharon Avrahami – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nHaEmek Head Coach Sharon Avrahami spoke about the defeat, \u201cThis was similar to the last game we played and we should have been ahead by ten points at the half. Jerusalem really took control in the second half and we need to look at the video and try to get ready for game two. We hope Kyler Edwards will be able to play next game as he has a hamstring issue which Niv Misgav has and he did play in this game.\u201d
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\nXavier Sneed spoke about the win, \u201cHard fought game and we kept home court, we had tough time to start off but we paid attention to the details and we ere able to adjust. We weathered the storm and defense wins championships. We need to get off to a better start, the last two games we didn\u2019t start well so we need to work on that.\u201d
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Gil Noyovitch – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nGil Noyovitch reflected on the loss, \u201cWe played well in the first half and we were there. We made a good comeback but it wasn\u2019t enough, in the third quarter our aggressiveness went down and we will need that to win the second game back at home. We hope everyone will be available next game and we will need to make the correct adjustments.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hapoel Jerusalem downed Hapoel HaEmek 82-71 to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-3 quaterfinal series. Justin Smith score early and often in the win as the reds will now try to close out the series up in Gan Ner on Tuesday. HaEmek grabbed an early lead thanks to fine play by Nick Ogenda, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":180351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[96],"class_list":["post-180348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-land-hoops","tag-hapoel-jerusalem","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nHapoel Jerusalem downs Hapoel HaEmek 82-71, take 1-0 QF series lead - Sports Rabbi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/hapoel-jerusalem-downs-hapoel-haemek-82-71-take-1-0-qf-series-lead\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hapoel Jerusalem downs Hapoel HaEmek 82-71, take 1-0 QF series lead - Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hapoel Jerusalem downed Hapoel HaEmek 82-71 to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-3 quaterfinal series. 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