Premier League / Basketball / Jerusalem's fresh face helps topple Galil Elyon

Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Galil Elyon 97-89 after Dan Shamir's club increased the pressure in the fourth quarter, Guy Pniny scored 25 points and Orien Greene made a nice debut.

After trailing by double digits for much of the game, Hapoel came back. It then pulled away, thanks to fresh blood off the bench, to record its second away win of the season.

Greene, Jerusalem's new point guard, who arrived from Australia, contributed a lot of team leadership, sank important shots and proved that he also knows how to distribute the ball. He allowed Dror Hagag time to rest and also led Jerusalem in the final period. Greene finished with 12 points and five assists in 26 minutes of playing time.

Pniny, with 25 points, and Sharon Shason, with 18 and seven rebounds, also contributed to Jerusalem's 28-12 show of force in the fourth quarter.

Galil's Gil Mossinson had one excellent quarter (11 points) but then disappeared, finishing with 15. Aaron Nixon, who stood out with 17 points, was injured in the final period after colliding with the press table. He was bandaged up and did not return to the game. The injury is in the same leg Nixon broke at the beginning of the season.

Galil's Doron Sheffer did not even take a shot and he looked like a ghost on court.

Trailing 16-9 in the first quarter, Shamir took a timeout, but it did not help. By the end of the period, Galil Elyon had built a 28-18 lead, in large part due to Mossinson's 11 points.

Galil Elyon maintained a double-digit lead for another couple of minutes, which is when Sheffer entered the game for the first time, after embracing former teammate Jayson Wells, who also came in then for his first action of the night.

With the score 48-36 and three minutes left in the period, Jerusalem went on a 12-3 run as the game headed toward halftime. But Galil went into the locker room hanging on to a narrow lead (51-48).

Galil recovered somewhat at the beginning of the second half, and took a 61-54 lead about halfway into the third. However, Jerusalem did not allow the game to slip away: It mounted another run to take a 67-66 lead into the final period.

That was the last anyone saw of Galil's defense last night: Jerusalem poured on 30 points while keeping the hosts in check on the other side of the court.