Hapoel beats Hapoel Haifa

Hapoel defeated Hapoel Haifa 88:68 today (Friday) in a home game at the Arena in front of thousands of red fans. The game on Friday at noon invited many families and children who watched the Reds wash the court, thanks in large part to Yovel Zoosman (24 points) who, in the absence of Brynton Lemar, successfully filled the role of the PG and recorded an impressive career record. Hapoel registers a second home victory this week after initially defeating Hapoel Be'er Sheva/Dimona at the Arena.

 

Family Friday with Hapoel

 

 

Hapoel starts in the five with Speedy Smith, Or Cornelius, Yovel Zoosman, Oz Blayzer and Zach Hankins. Both teams started off offensively confused, with Hapoel showing a pressure defense at the start and repeatedly taking Hapoel Haifa out of their rhythm, but failing to punish on the other side. Yovel Zoosman was the one who put Hapoel into the offensive flow with 3 three-pointers from the corner, one after the other. Zoos' three-pointers started from three-point range on both sides and resulted in a very high score, only 5 minutes into the game. Haifa got into the flow and wanted a little run of their own until Levi Randolph stepped in and took matters into his own hands, giving the Jerusalemites back the lead. Johnson and Speedy entered the zone themselves and together with Liwai led Hapoel to a convincing 12:0 run, which led to the end of the quarter with 29:19 for Hapoel.

 

Yovel Zoosman. Automatic shooter

 

Hapoel didn't stop the three-point range and Oz Blayzer opened the second quarter with a three-pointer of his own. Zach Hankins celebrated with a powerful dunk and less than a minute later, the Blayzer added another three-pointer and sent Hapoel Haifa to a quick timeout to think about defending the three-pointer, when it was behind by 15 points. Tsatsashvili continued his good ability from the first quarter and was a very positive anchor on both sides of the field. The pace of the game has slowed down a bit as the offensive quality of both teams drops a bit. Or Cornelius was the defensive barometer and did a great job when it came to breaking the Haifa flow. 3-pointers started coming in towards the end of the quarter when at the end of the half - Hapoel 51:41.

 

 

Hapoel started the third quarter with an 8:0 run, mainly thanks to the owner on the floor, Speedy Smith, who made sure to activate his teammates and added point production work himself. The run was stopped by an unsportsmanlike foul by Or Cornelius, but Yovel Zoosman calmed things down with a spectacular step-back. McGurl, who was stopped by Hapoel in the first half, gave an increased output in the third quarter when most of the attacks went through him. Towards the end of the quarter it was, of course, Levi Randolph, who made sure to maintain the difference and maintained offensive stability himself. Haifa still tried to reduce the advantage and at the end of the quarter - 73:54 to Hapoel.

 

Levi Randolph. There is no "impossible"

 

Yovel Zoosman opened the last quarter with a 3-pointer, thereby resetting his career high, which stood at 19 points before the game. Encouraged by the high margin, the tempo of the game relaxed and the teams made many mistakes, on both sides of the court, which led to Shay Ole'archik taking a timeout, 2 minutes into the quarter. From the active time-out, she was more responsible that she keeps a low pace of play to avoid Haifa comeback attempts. Zoosman didn't think for a moment about stopping and at the end of the game - 88:68 for Hapoel.