Hapoel Jerusalem celebrates seventh straight EuroCup win and perfect first round in Italy

Hapoel Jerusalem’s impressive season shows no signs of slowing down. Sasa Obradovic’s squad continued its surge on Wednesday night, defeating Derthona 91–77 in Italy to complete a spotless 7–0 first round in the EuroCup group stage. Entering the contest on an 11-game winning streak across all competitions, the Reds from the capital had to grind through three competitive quarters before locking down defensively in the final 10 minutes to capture their 12th straight victory.

The opening minutes were far from ideal for Jerusalem. Entering the night at 3–3 in EuroCup play, the Italian hosts came out firing and jumped to an 11–0 lead within three minutes as the visitors struggled to find their rhythm. David Roddy finally put Jerusalem on the board before Devontae Cacok checked in off the bench and immediately shifted momentum at both ends of the floor. A 10–0 run pulled the Reds right back into the contest, and Kenneth Lofton Jr. soon joined in with physical finishes in the paint. The matchup settled into a back-and-forth battle, with Derthona taking a narrow 50–48 lead into halftime after Jerusalem conceded its highest single-half point total of the European campaign.

The second half brought plenty of momentum swings of its own. Lofton remained Jerusalem’s offensive focal point, only to pick up his fourth personal foul early in the third quarter and head to the bench. In his absence, Lorenzo Brown and Nimrod Levi stepped up to spearhead an 11–0 run that gave the visitors a game-high seven-point advantage. Justin Gorham helped Derthona chip away at the deficit, though Cacok made sure Jerusalem entered the decisive fourth quarter clinging to a 69–68 edge.

In the final frame, however, Jerusalem showed why it is widely regarded as one of the premier teams in the EuroCup. Obradovic’s defense ratcheted up its signature intensity, holding the hosts to just three points over the opening seven minutes of the period while Jaleen Smith buried two timely three-pointers. Shake Milton then took command of the offense, Roddy added four straight points, and the margin quickly ballooned into comfortable double digits. Even without Lofton - who was limited to just 14 minutes of action - Jerusalem dominated the fourth quarter 22–9 to lock up a valuable road win and clinch first place in the group at the midway point.

Beyond the unblemished record, Obradovic could take plenty of encouragement from his roster’s depth and ball movement, as Jerusalem dished out 25 assists and placed seven players in double figures. Lofton paced the attack with 17 points, Cacok and Milton added 14 apiece, Smith (who also recorded five steals) and Levi chipped in 11 each, and Brown and Yovel Zoosman contributed 10 points apiece. Dante Maddox and Giordano Bortolani led Derthona with 15 points each in defeat. Jerusalem will now turn its focus to the Israeli Clasico, where a victory would put an exclamation point on a dream start to the season.

Box Score

• Hapoel Jerusalem scorers: Kenneth Lofton Jr. 17 pts, Devontae Cacok 14, Shake Milton 14, Jaleen Smith 11, Nimrod Levi 11, Lorenzo Brown 10, Yovel Zoosman 10, Dusan Miletic 2, David Roddy 2.
• Derthona standouts: Dante Maddox 15 pts, Giordano Bortolani 15, Prentiss Hubb 12, Justin Gorham 10, Christian Vital 8.

Play-by-Play

Quarter 1: Obradovic opened with a starting lineup of Jaleen Smith, Ethan Burg, David Roddy, Kenneth Lofton Jr., and Dusan Miletic. Jerusalem struggled early to establish its usual interior game and paid the price as Gorham sparked a rapid 11–0 Italian burst. Unable to buy a basket through the opening three-and-a-half minutes, the Reds finally broke the drought when Roddy converted a tough shot and added a free throw (11–3). Summoned off the bench, Cacok made an immediate two-way impact to fuel a 10–0 Jerusalem run that trimmed the deficit to one (11–10). Maddox kept Derthona slightly ahead before Lofton found his rhythm, tying the game with a series of aggressive post finishes (18–18). Cacok continued to anchor the Reds as the lead briefly changed hands, wrapping up a tightly contested opening quarter deadlocked at 25–25.

Quarter 2: Hubb came out sharp to start the second period and restored the hosts' lead, only for another Lofton post-up to keep Obradovic’s side right on Derthona’s heels (29–29). Zoosman caught fire and knocked down just Jerusalem’s second three-pointer of the night, with Brown soon following suit from deep as Bortolani worked to keep the visitors from pulling away (41–39). Jerusalem stretched its cushion to five points before Vital and Maddox took control down the stretch, swinging the advantage back to the Italians for a 50–48 halftime lead. Lofton led all scorers at the break with 13 points, backed by Cacok (10) and Zoosman (8), while Maddox paced Derthona with nine.

Quarter 3: The brisk offensive tempo carried into the third quarter as Gorham drained a deep three-pointer from near the logo, while Lofton pushed his scoring tally to 17 before immediately being whistled for his fourth foul (56–52). Stepping into the spotlight in Lofton’s place, Brown reeled off five straight points alongside a corner triple from Levi to put Jerusalem back in front (60–56). The Reds extended their surge to 11–0 to build a game-high seven-point lead (63–56). Gorham answered by cutting the margin back to a single point, but Cacok ensured Jerusalem carried a narrow 69–68 advantage into the final period.

Quarter 4: Zoosman became the fifth Jerusalem player to reach double figures early in the fourth, before both offenses went cold for roughly two minutes until Smith broke the silence with a three-pointer to make it 74–68. Even with Lofton glued to the bench, Jerusalem clamped down defensively, suffocating the Italian attack to the tune of just three points across seven minutes while Milton took over offensively and Smith added another triple to push the lead to 11 (82–71). Maintaining its defensive grit right through the final buzzer, Jerusalem capped the night with four consecutive points from Roddy to seal a 91–77 victory - securing its seventh win and a perfect first round in the EuroCup.