HAPOEL JERUSALEM players celebrate with the Winner Cup trophy after beating Hapoel Tel Aviv 89-84 in Saturday night’s final at the Pais Arena in the capital. (photo credit: YEHUDA HALICKMAN)

The victory marked the seventh time Jerusalem won the Winner Cup, with the most recent coming in 2023.

Hapoel Jerusalem downed Hapoel Tel Aviv 89-84 on Saturday night in the Winner Cup final, with the most valuable player in the tournament, Jared Harper, proving unstoppable once again as the Capital Reds captured the title.

The victory marked the seventh time Jerusalem won the Winner Cup, with the most recent coming in 2023.

Harper scored in bunches to set the tone early while Khadeen Carrington and Yovel Zoosman found crucial points throughout the first half. But Elijah Bryant and Vasilije Micic kept Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad close, with Yonatan Alon’s team heading into halftime ahead 52-50.

Josiah Jordan-James and Roi Huber helped bump up Jerusalem’s lead to 16 points, but Antonio Blakeney and Guy Palatin cut down the advantage in short order.

However, Jerusalem’s Austin Wiley, along with Harper and Carrington, made sure to score in crunch time to take home the hardware.

Harper scored 33 points, Carrington added 15 points, and Huber put in 12 points in the win, while Blakeney ledTel Aviv with 19 points, Bryant chipped in with 18 points, and Micic put in 14 points in the loss.

HAPOEL JERUSALEM and Hapoel Tel Aviv are both confident after splitting the first two games of their best-of-3 series. (credit: Dov Halickman)

A ‘hard-fought,’ victorious game

Jerusalem coach Alon spoke about the importance of the win. “It was a good game for this stage of the season, and the fans enjoyed it. I’m glad we won. We have players who know how to win these types of big games. It’s sports, and the guys know how to lift their level of play for these moments.”

Itoudis also reflected on the game. “It was a dog fight,“ he said, “and Jerusalem managed to go to 76-60, but we didn’t give up, and we came back. In the end, it was one offensive rebound, a foul, and a good shot to close the gap, but we lost the game. We still have three targets, and we will chase them aggressively.”

Jerusalem’s Josiah-Jordan James spoke about the team’s victory. “It goes back to the work we do day in and day out. The coach and team put a lot of confidence in us, and we have to work on some things, but we are moving in the right direction.“

“Today was my day, but any day it can be any one of us from 1-15,” James said. “We knew that it wasn’t going to be easy, but we matched up well, and while we didn’t play our best 40 minutes, we have to keep building on that. The sky’s the limit for us.”

Bryant discussed the defeat from Tel Aviv’s perspective. “It was a hard-fought game, and they won. We can learn from this and grow, and at the end of the day. When a team shoots 70% from two, it’s hard to beat them. We practice together and spend a lot of time together, but they were the better team today. I tip my hat to them. Jared Harper hit a lot of tough shots and can draw fouls.”

Meanwhile, in Israeli league play, Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Elitzur Netanya 94-88, as Jeff Dowtin led the way with 19 points, and Marcio Santos added 18. In comparison, Otis Frazier paced the diamond city side with 26 points.

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