BREAKING NEWS

Basketball: Hapoel Jerusalem out of Eurocup, Maccabi Tel Aviv in trouble

Hapoel Jerusalem lost all hope of progressing to the Eurocup round of 16 on Wednesday night, while Maccabi Tel Aviv still has plenty of work to do after suffering its second straight defeat in the competition.
Hapoel knew it had to beat Strasbourg at the Jerusalem Arena to maintain any lingering chance of reaching the next stage. However, a 24-4 run by the visitors in the first quarter and the start of the second opened a 16-point gap (31-15) which Jerusalem failed to overturn, falling to a 79-69 loss and 0-4 in Last 32 Group H.
Josh Duncan had 16 points for Jerusalem, which closed within three points early in the second half, but entered the final frame down by 10 points (58-48) and trailed by double digits throughout the last quarter.
“This isn’t our best period but we will overcome it,” said Jerusalem coach Danny Franco. “We will make the adjustments we need to make and we will be better than this.”
Kyle Weems led five Strasbourg (4-0) players in double figures with 15 points.