Basketball: Hapoel Jerusalem tops Kuban, remains unbeaten in Eurocup

Hapoel Jerusalem extended its perfect start to the Eurocup regular season and strengthened its hold on first place in Group D by improving to 3-0 on Wednesday night, beating Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar of Russia 90-79 at the Jerusalem Arena.After defeating both Valencia and Olimpija Ljubljana on the road, Hapoel hosted its first Eurocup game of the season on Wednesday and bounced back from a poor first quarter to register a comfortable victory.Jerusalem visits Ulm in Germany next week before both Valencia and Ljubljana come to Israel’s capital.Curtis Jerrells continued his excellent form with 18 points for Jerusalem, which connected on 26-of-38 two-point attempts (68.4%).Despite being doubtful with an injury, Jerome Dyson scored 17 points, with Travis Peterson adding 14 points and 10 rebounds. Amar’e Stoudemire finished with eight points and without any rebound or assist in 21 minutes.Former Maccabi guard Taylor Rochestie had 18 points for Kuban, which fell to 1-2.Kuban got off to a promising start, opening a 31-25 lead after 10 minutes. Jerusalem knew it would have to tighten its defense to have any chance of winning, and it did just that by holding the visitors to a combined 28 points in the next two periods.A Dyson three-pointer gave Jerusalem a six-point lead (52- 46) at the break and Hapoel seized control with a 12-3 run (71-57). The hosts were in complete control entering the fourth frame (75-59) and cruised in the final 10 minutes, keeping their Eurocup campaign on track.Elsewhere, Ironi Nahariya fell to 0-3 in Group A of the FIBA Champions League after being thrashed 85-53 at home by Aris Thessaloniki of Greece. Nahariya displayed some encouraging form in Saturday’s BSL loss to Jerusalem, but completely capitulated on Wednesday on the way to a humbling defeat.Maccabi Rishon Lezion dropped to 2-1 in Group B on Tuesday, losing 84-75 to Karsiyaka in Turkey.