The Winner Cup quarter-final matches continue today (Friday) at the Enerbox Hall in Hadera, when Hapoel Jerusalem meets Hapoel Eilat. The winner will play next Wednesday against whoever advances from the quarter-finals between Bnei Herzliya and Hapoel Tel Aviv, which will take place on Saturday night. For the renewed Hapoel Jerusalem this is the first official game of the season. The team from the capital made a significant facelift during the offseason, including in the position of coach with the arrival of Aleksandar Džikić. Noam Dovar and Itay Segev are the only ones who survived the revolution, and they were joined in the Israeli division by Oz Blazer and Or Cornelius, as well as Gilad Levy who was absent from the game because he is a rookie. In the foreign sector, Jerusalem added six new players: four Americans – Kadin Carrington, Speedy Smith, Zach Hankins and Levi Randolph, the Estonian Sim-Sander Vena and the Latvian Marks Meiris who remained outside the squad. On the other hand, although she was far from impressive in her first game in the factory against Ironi Nes Ziona, Hapoel Eilat got past the Oranges at the end of a drama and qualified for the quarter-finals again, after reaching the finals last year. Ariel Beit Lahemi’s team is missing guard Scott Mashado who will be out of action for about two months, and the club is looking at options to replace him.
the progress of the game
Quarter 1:
Eilat started better and went up 0:6, Jerusalem needed three minutes to score first points. Nate Grimes made it 3:9, Or Cornelius snagged two three-pointers and shrunk to 14:11, and at the end of the first quarter the Israeli advantage stood at 18:22. Grimes led his team with 9 points, Cornelius scored 8 on the other side.
Quarter 2:
Kadin Carrington delivered a beautiful dunk, scored from the line and completed a turnaround on the way to the first lead of the game – 23:24. The percentages on both sides continued to be low, Griffin returned Eilat to 29:31, and at the end of the first half 36:36. Jerusalem scored 32 percent from the field, Eilat 43 percent from the field. Griffin led with 12 points for Beit Halami, Carrington scored 10 for Dzikic.
Quarter 3:
Cornelius went on his way and hit a third three-pointer, Speedy Smith managed the game well and Yerushalayim ran away to a record lead up to that moment – 40:48. Artzi reduced it to 50:46, Griffin joined in, and with the advance to the decisive quarter, Eilat regained the advantage – 54:55.
Quarter 4:
Cornelius completed a 0:7 run and raised the Jerusalemites to 55:61.