After being stopped after two consecutive victories with 100: 87 to Hapoel Haifa in the arena, Hapoel Jerusalem is trying to recover and return to the winning track and is currently hosted in the Jubilee Hall at Bnei Herzliya in the 21st round of the Winner Basket League.
The red team of Dainius Adumaitis, which has suffered its tenth loss in its last 16 games against Hapoel Haifa in all competitions, does not want to risk losing third place in the table and is trying to stay close to Hapoel Eilat II. The Jerusalemites have to make do without captain Jacob Brown, who was sidelined from any activity due to a shoulder injury and will be out for an extended period, whose length has not yet been determined, when Chris Kramer, who recovered from a meniscus tear, signed up for the game.
On the other hand, Sharon Drucker’s team wants to recover from the 87:84 loss to Maccabi Rishon Lezion and continue the trend of improvement in recent times, when they have won 7 of their last 11 games and moved significantly away from the dangerous area at the bottom of the table.
First quarter: 14:28 to Hapoel Jerusalem
Bnei Herzliya Quintet: Abdul Gadi, Aviram Zelikovich, Koti Clark, Elisha Kadir and Elijah Thomas.
Hapoel Jerusalem Quintet: Tamir Blatt, Chris Kramer, Adam Ariel, Suleiman Braimo and Idan Zalmanson.
The match opened with first points from the host team, when Elijah Thomas scored a light lay-up, while in the next attack Elisha Kadir performed a similar action. Adam Ariel was sent to the line, scoring only one shot but provided the Jerusalemites with first points. Suleiman Braimo lost, Aviram Zelikovich survived a quick outburst that caused Adumaitis to take a timeout in a 3: 8 situation to Herzliya. The Reds’ 0: 7 run, sponsored by Reimo, passed the lead to the Jerusalem side. Tamir Blatt penetrated wonderfully and picked up a wonderful Elijah for the hot Braimo – 10:17 for the guests. The Sharons went out for a timeout, did not come back well and saw Blatt run Hill to a deadly outburst that ended in another 2 red dots. Kidd scored with the buzzer and dropped his team to plus 14 at the end of the quarter.
Second quarter: 34:50 to Hapoel Jerusalem
Thomas opened the second quarter as he started the first, with points inside the point, after completing a three-point move with a basket and an offense. The fiery Braimo did not have a hard time under the basket: Kidd sniped from the three in the next attack and Jerusalem went up to 17:35. Thomas, who if not he, scored for the team from Sharon and reduced the difference to 13. Adi Cohen Saban, with great delivery, found Zalmanson inside and the chin added 2 easy. Heidegger threw out of the arc, hitting and causing Herzliya to take a timeout. Trell Parks gave an excellent assist to Cutty Clark, who reduced the gap to 10. Hill stitched a big three towards the end of the quarter and actually brought the Jerusalemites down by plus 16 to the locker rooms.
Third quarter:
The third quarter opened with points from Braimo and Kramer, with Thomas being the man on the other side for Herzliya – 36:56 red. The Jerusalemites just do whatever they please, when Hill sniped a big three and raised his team to 39:62. Drucker got angry and took a time-out to try to provoke his players. The time-out also did not help the host, as Zalmanson almost completed a three-point move with a basket and an offense (missed the shot) immediately upon returning to the parquet. Hill raised his tally to 11 points after another accurate shot from outside the arc that set a 40:72 mark. Gaddy and Parks instilled some hope on the home side, with a 0: 9 run.
Fourth quarter:
Abdul Gadi opened the decisive quarter with an excellent three. The pace of the threes continued, with Hill being the one to shell on the other side for the team from the capital. Enormous white momentum, which included Heidegger’s big threes and another good ability from Parks narrowed the gap to just six points. Parks added two more points from the line, the result – 77:81 to Jerusalem. Braimo went to the line, but scored only once and Drucker took a timeout.
