Jerusalem attacked Alba with its up-tempo offense right from the start and opened an early lead. Yuval Naimi's lay-up just over two minutes into the game gave Hapoel a 9-2 margin and another easy basket by Tre Simmons following another Jerusalem fast-break kept the hosts ahead by seven points (13-6) midway through the period.

Pooh Jeter's triple with 30 seconds to go extended the margin to 15 and Hapoel was ahead 30-18 at the break after [Derrick Byars] hit a three, improving Berlin's field-goal percentage in the half to an embarrassing 26 percent (7 of 27).

Hapoel's margin was shrinking with every minute that passed and a three-point move by Julius Jenkins followed by a Sekulic dunk cut the final margin of defeat to just six points, leaving Jerusalem with plenty of work to do in Berlin next week.