Hapoel Jerusalem returned to the winning track last night (Saturday) after easily beating Hapoel Eilat 60:83 in the Begin Hall, thanks to a wonderful game by Zach Hankins who led the list of scorers for the guest with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Aleksandar Džikić's team took a quick double-digit lead already in the first quarter, and from that point did not look back and even made sure to increase the advantage towards the end, with the coach taking advantage of the difference to distribute the minutes and rotate among the players of the squad, with all 12 players listed on the game sheet coming up to play .
"We started the game well unlike our other games and managed to stop their runs throughout the match. We emphasized this issue in training and talked about the importance of maintaining a high level of concentration for forty minutes. We were able to maintain the difference and control the game and we hope that this will give us positive momentum heading into the important game on Wednesday," they said at the end of the club.
The club expressed satisfaction with the performance of Zach Hankins, who led the list of guest scorers with 22 points and 10 rebounds in wonderful percentages (10/12 from the field), while Noam Yaakov, who made his debut in the red uniforms in the league after not participating in the last few games, also received compliments.
The young center looked confident, leading his team in assists with 7, to which he also added 3 points and 4 rebounds.
"We knew it wasn't an easy place to play, Eilat lost its last two games by close margins, so we had to start the game strong from the beginning and that's what we did. We were able to find the holes in their defense, move the ball and make easy baskets. The last game was disappointing for us Because we know we can play much better than how we played against us in Dijon. This win is very important for our season and we want to continue the momentum from here," Zach Hankins shared his feelings at the end.
The chin went on to compliment his coach.
"Dzikic is undoubtedly one of the best coaches I've ever coached, he pushes us forward and knows how to spur us on. He knows how good we can be and uses that to spur us on."
Moments of concern passed over the bench of the Reds in the closing minutes of the match when Speedy Smith went down and complained of pain in his hamstring, and did not play again.
The guard will be examined in order to diagnose his condition and the severity of the injury.
After the match, the Jerusalemites will begin preparations for the European arena, when on Wednesday they will be hosted by Hapoel Holon at Hapoel Holon's Toto Hall for an intriguing Israeli encounter as part of the second match in the top 16 stage of the FIBA Champions League.
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