Jerusalem rules road to reach semis!

Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem never trailed and booked a spot in the 7DAYS EuroCup semifinals with a 79-85 road victory over Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas, sweeping their quarterfinal best-of-three series. Jerusalem, which won Game 1 with an 87-67 blowout, used a big first quarter to gain control and came up with big shots anytime Gran Canaria would mount a comeback. Curtis Jerrells led the way with 23 points while Jerome Dyson scored 16 and Amare Stoudemire added 15 and 8 rebounds for Jerusalem, which saw a 17-point lead melt down to one in the fourth quarter. In the semis, Jerusalem will face the winner of the quarterfinal series between Valencia Basket and Khimki Moscow Region. Gran Canaria wasted a 17-point showing from Sasu Salin, who blacked out mid-way through the first quarter but came back to hit 4 three-pointers in the game. Albert Oliver added 16 points for the losers.

Dyson and Terance Kinsey both knocked down three-pointers as Jerusalem jumped out to a 2-10 lead. Jerrells and Yotam Halperin both added long balls to push the gap to 9-20 and Dyson converted a three-point play and 2 three-balls as Jerusalem pushed ahead 16-33. Gran Canaria was able to close the gap to 19-33 after 10 minutes. Another Jerrells three-pointer increased the difference to 24-38. Ryan Hollins came off the Gran Canaria bench with a hook shot and a big dunk, then Salin and Kyle Kuric both hit from long range in a 14-3 surge to trim the deficit to 38-41. Kinsey stopped the spurt and 5 points by Stoudemire left Jerusalem ahead 41-50 at the break. Salin hit an early triple after the half to trim the gap to 45-50 but Jerrells followed with a three of his own. And Oliver scored 7 points for Gran Canaria as the lead dwindled to 52-56. Jerrells once again answered with 5 points in pushing Jerusalem up to 52-63. The margin was 54-68 after 5 free throws from Travis Peterson and Halperin and then 59-70 after 30 minutes. Gran Canaria charged back into the gap with a Bo McCalebb three-point play and back-to-back three-pointers from Royce O'Neale to get the margin down to 70-72. Jerrells answered once again for Jerusalem with a three-point play off a tough reverse layup and Stoudemire's big dunk made it 70-77. Gran Canaria had one more push with Hollins hitting 2 free throws and getting a block before Oliver's two foul shots cut the score to 79-80 with 23 seconds left. Peterson followed with 2 free throws with 17 seconds left and after Kuric turned it over with 7 seconds to play, Dyson split 2 foul shots to ice the game.