The Israeli side grabbed its first win in the EuroCup this season
Jerusalem runs away late to sink Lietkabelis, 74-94



Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem used a huge fourth quarter to pull away to a big 74-94 road win over 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys on Tuesday night at Kalnapilio Arena. Jerusalem moved to a 1-1 record, while Lietkabelis dropped to 0-2 in Group B action.
Lietkabelis opened the game with a 23-10 lead, but Jerusalem erased the deficit by early in the second quarter and spent the majority of the game in front. Then, in the fourth quarter, the visitors ran away, scoring 34 points and allowing just 18.
Jared Harper paced Jerusalem with 23 points and 5 assists, while Yovel Zoosman scored 16 of his 20 points, on 5-of-6 three-point shooting, in the first half. Justin Smith scored 15 and Chris Johnson added 12 points in the victory, with each player also pulling down 7 rebounds. For the hosts, Dovis Bickauskis scored 13, and Georgios Kalaitzakis and Oleksandr Kovliar had 12 points apiece in the loss.
Game Videos
Kovliar opened the scoring for the hosts before they started feeding its big men and scored in transition as Lietkabelis jumped in front 9-3. Jerusalem looked to get going through Khadeen Carrington, but Marko Pecarski’s third bucket of the night made it 15-8. After a timeout, back-to-back threes by Kovliar and Martynas Varnas extended the margin to 13. But Zoosman made his third three-pointer of the quarter to revive Jerusalem, which trimmed the gap to 25-18 after 10 minutes.
Zoosman then drilled a three and stole the ball before scoring a layup early in the second, which was followed by Justin Smith’s three-point play to complete a 0-15 run as Jerusalem took a 25-26 lead. The two teams started trading buckets, and leads, but Jerusalem had a strong finish to the half. A basket from Johnson before 5 points from Carrington, including a triple, fueled a half-ending 0-11 run to give the visitors a 36-44 halftime lead.
Jerusalem extended its advantage to double digits right away in the third, but Kalaitzakis nailed a pair of threes to cut the margin to 46-49. A corner three from Johnson restored a 48-56 lead, but 5 points from Bickauskis, including a triple of his own, helped cut it to 56-57 before Johnson ended the quarter with a buzzer-beating corner three, making it 56-60 after 30 minutes.
At the start of the fourth, a three-point play from Gabrielius Maldunas and a fast-break triple from Mantas Rubstavicius tied the score at 62-62. However, shortly after a Speedy Smith's triple started a 0-9 run which also saw Justin Smith and Harper contribute, another three from Speedy Smith extended it to 66-76 with 5 minutes left. The hosts never threatened again, and Jerusalem scored the final 11 points in the last 2 minutes of the game, ending with a big win.