Hapoel Jerusalem did not shine, but last night (Wednesday) it did what was assigned to it when it beat the Danish Bakken Bears 80:89 in the fourth round of the Champions League and achieved its seventh consecutive victory in all formats.
The host increased her balance in the European factory to 1:3, thanks to a wonderful game by Zach Hankins who finished with 22 points.
As was the case in the previous meeting in Aarhus, this time too the Danish opponent, who had not yet won this season in the factory, showed character, made it difficult for the Jerusalemites and remained tight for four quarters, but the host managed to escape to a double-digit lead in the last quarter, which she maintained until the end.
"Many people underestimate the Bakken Bears, but they are a good team with a lot of potential. They are great in all positions and play without any pressure, so this is a significant advantage for them. In the end, we achieved the victory and came close to securing a place in the next stage, which is the most important thing, but I am not satisfied with many things that I saw except The victory," Aleksandr Dzikic noted at the end.
Speaker in action, yesterday in front of the Danes, photo: Barney Ardov
Despite the victory, Noam Dovrat's injury during the last quarter, clouded the joy.
The young coordinator injured his knee, came off the floor and appeared to be in pain, will undergo an MRI scan this morning in order to diagnose the severity of the injury.
The club is afraid of finding out that the player suffers damage to his knee and will be forced to be absent from the fields for an extended period.
"We are all praying for Noam and hope that the injury is not serious, injuries are difficult but unfortunately they are a part of the sport. I personally missed the last two years of my career due to injuries," Zach Hankins shared his feelings at the end, who was chosen as the outstanding player of the game with 22 points and 9 rebounds.
The club complimented the character shown by the players who knew how to win the game despite a non-ideal situation on the day of the game when Zach Hankins played with a male mask for a broken nose he is suffering from, Speedy Smith suffered from the flu but played and contributed 9 points and 14 assists, Levi Randolph was not feeling well but played and added 17 points of his own while Or Cornelius came up to play despite a slight injury and added 6 points of his own.
Dzikic.
Pleased with the victory, photo: Barney Ardov
"The winning streak is a happy thing, every week of training we improve and understand each other better. The game was difficult because they played well and didn't let us run away. We have to be better at it in attack and defense," said Marks Meiris who contributed 4 points and 5 repeated balls.
Now the Reds will return to focus on the local framework when on Saturday night they will host Kiryat Ata City in the Arena as part of the eighth cycle in the Winner League.
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