The visitors grabbed an important victory in the battle for a top-two spot
Jerusalem powers past Cluj, 79-91
Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem came out victorious from a crucial battle for a top-two finish by beating U-BT Cluj-Napoca 79-91 on Wednesday evening. Jared Harper and Khadeen Carrington combined for 44 points to snap Cluj’s five-game winning streak at Bt-Arena. With this win, Jerusalem improved its record to 9-5 and claimed the head-to-head advantage against Cluj which dropped to 7-7.
Carrington paced Jerusalem with a career-high 23 points, while Harper finished the game with 21 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. Justin Smith netted 13 points, Jeremy Morgan had 11 and Yovel Zoosman added 10. For Cluj, D.J. Seeley scored a game-high 27 points, Zavier Simpson recorded 17 and De'Shawn Stephens tallied 11.
Game Videos
Seeley got Cluj going with 5 points and Simpson opened his account from the line for a 7-2 lead. Harper made 3 from the charity stripe, with Carrington netting only the third field goal of the game 7 minutes into the first quarter for a 7-8 Jerusalem edge. Then, Carrington added 7 points to his tally and Gabriel Chachashvili dunked in transition to open a 9-17 lead after 10 minutes.
Smith and Stephens traded buckets to open the second quarter before Seeley drained back-to-back triples that slashed the deficit to 17-19. Stephens completed a three-point play to extend Cluj’s run to 11-0, putting his team in front, 20-19. Buckets from Seeley and Tudor Somacescu were followed by a triple from Gediminas Orelik, with the hosts maintaining a 27-23 lead. Then, Adam Mokoka and Orelik gave Cluj a 33-25 cushion. Five points from Morgan and a Carrington layup cut the difference to 35-32. Simpson netted his first field goal of the game, but Harper nailed his first triple to bring Jerusalem within 37-35 at the break.
Harper nailed a layup, but Cluj made the most of an unsportsmanlike foul from Tarik Phillip, with Seeley sinking his fourth three-pointer for a 42-37 lead. Back-to-back buckets from Zoosman were followed by a Smith put-back basket to put Jerusalem back ahead, 42-43. But Seeley drilled another one from deep and Stephens netted inside to make it 47-44. Morgan and Orelik traded triples before a hard-fought bucket by Derek Ogbeide and a Zoosman basket off the glass gave Jerusalem a 54-55 edge. Then, Morgan sank a triple and Harper nailed a jumper that allowed the visitors to maintain a 59-61 lead heading into the closing quarter.
Mareks Mejeris opened the fourth with a floater, but Chris Johnson scored a put-back bucket and Carrington completed a three-point play to open a 61-66 lead. Buckets from Simpson and Zach Hankins sandwiched a triple by Carrington before Harper scored twice inside to set a 67-73 cushion. Simpson made 3 of 4 from the line, but Chachashvili responded with a three-point play and Smith netted in the paint for a 70-78 lead. Six points from Smith and a three from Carrington opened a 76-89 lead to seal the victory for the visitors.