Photo: Oded Karni, Basketball Association
For the second time in two weeks. It has been a little less than a year since Hapoel Jerusalem won the National Basketball Cup for the second time in a row. A little less than a year, but a lot has changed since when the Corona virus entered our lives and changed the whole world, including the world of sports and Hapoel Jerusalem.
Tonight (Saturday night) the trophy holder from the capital survived a difficult game that was already waiting for her in her first round at the Cup Factory, the second most important basketball factory in the country, when she hosted the excellent Hapoel Eilat for the eighth cup final.
Jerusalem arrived for tonight’s game without pushing the crowd that was prevented from arriving due to the Corona virus, but with a perfect spirit in the form of a perfect balance in the basketball Premier League and a victory over Eilat two weeks ago in the home court and thanks to them.
After the first 10 minutes, the scoreboard showed a 20:20 tie and then the new Jerusalem acquisition, Jamil Wilson, stepped on the floor. Wilson’s three and Kramer’s points started the Jerusalemites’ escape and at the end of the half they went down with a 39:48 advantage.
The Eilatites, who did not score a single three in the entire first half, scored it only towards the end of the third quarter, but the Jerusalemites did not take advantage of this to escape and the final and decisive quarter came down with only an 8-point advantage, 58:66.
Schudelbrand, of all the players from Eilat, missed a three that could have changed the momentum and the face of the game, but his mistake on the eve of a bad shot left Jerusalem with a margin of safety and at the end the cup holder from the capital recorded a second consecutive victory over the Southerners in two weeks. 81:90.
Scored for Hapoel Jerusalem: Chris Kramer 19, Suleiman Braimo 16, Tyson Thomas 16, Jamil Wilson 14, Tamir Blatt 10, Idan Zalmanson 6, Adam Ariel 5, Jacoben Brown 4.
Scored for Hapoel Eilat: Josh Nivo 22, Casey Frather 21, Joe Ragland 21, Jonathan Schuldbrand 8, Merkel Brown 5, Ben Carter 2, Roy Hoover 2.