By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
It did not look good for Noam Dovrat. And initial fears were eventually confirmed.
Following tests performed by the medical staff, he has been slated to have surgery on his knee, Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem announced Thursday.
Dovrat, 20, was ruled out for the remainder of the 2022-23 season.
He picked up the injury early in the fourth quarter of the Basketball Champions League Regular Season Gameday 4 affair against the Bakken Bears held at Pais Arena yesterday, Wednesday. In scary minutes for all involved, he struggled to get up and from there was unable to put any weight on his foot. Team members carried him off the court toward the locker room.
Overcoming the uneasy situation, Hapoel Jerusalem went on a roll down the stretch to take down the Denmark champions and improve to 3-1 in Group E of the Champions League Regular Season. With two games on the road against the direct competition for the top seed, MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg and Darussafaka, getting the job done away from Jerusalem is a necessity in the bid for a direct ticket to the Round of 16. Otherwise, a second opportunity via a best-of-three Play-In series will be part of the January schedule.
After becoming the youngest captain in the history of Maccabi Rishon LeZion, Dovrat switched to Jerusalem heading to the 2021-22 season. Prior to the early ending to his second campaign on his new side, he was earning plenty of minutes from head coach Aleksandar Djikic, emerging as a solid all-around contributor coming off the bench. He averaged 4.0 points, 3.0 assists, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per contest over four BCL appearances upping his career total to seven. In the domestic league, he recorded 6.9 points, 1.7 assists, 1.1 rebounds, and 0.6 steals per Winner League game.
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League