Weems lifts undefeated Strasbourg over Jerusalem

Strasbourg picked up its third straight victory in a 75-71 hard-fought battle with Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem in Group H of the Last 32. Mardy Collins led the way for Strasbourg with 14 points while Romain Duport had 12 points, Kyle Weems scored 10 points and Louis Campbell and Paul Lacombe combined for 16 points and 13 assists. While Strasbourg moved to 3-0 in the group, Jerusalem dropped to 0-3 despite 20 points from E.J. Rowland. Matt Janning added 10 points in the loss.

Rowland and Donta Smith scored to give Jerusalem a 0-4 lead. Campbell finally got the home team on the board with a three-pointer at the 7:28 minute mark. Jeremy Leloup’s triple evened it at 6-6 and Rodrigue Beaubois’ score gave Strasbourg its first advantage 10-8. Weems added a three-pointer as Strasbourg nosed ahead 13-10. Yotam Halperin’s first basket had Jerusalem up 13-14, which was the score after 10 minutes. D’Or Fischer extended it to 13-16 before Collins put Strasbourg back ahead 19-18. Janning gave Jerusalem back the lead but the guest team then went scoreless for the next 2 minutes and watched Leloup’s free throws make it 25-20. Josh Duncan responded with a three-pointer and 4 free throws to put Jerusalem up 25-29. It was 28-35 after Halperin’s score and Gran Canaria trailed 31-37 at the break.

Beaubois opened the second half with a three-pointer and Matt Howard’s put-back evened the game at 39-39. Another Beaubois triple but Strasbourg back in the lead 42-41. Halperin’s three-point play resulted in another lead change but Jerusalem failed to score for more than 3 minutes and Paul Lacombe hit 5 points as Strasbourg led 51-44. The cushion was 55-51 after 30 minutes. Three points from Howard and Rowland got the guests to within 58-57 and a Tony Gaffney long ball left Jerusalem down 63-63 with 5 minutes left. Two more Rowland three-pointers followed to knot the game 70-70 with 58 seconds left. And after Rowland split 2 free throws with 27 seconds to play, Weems came down and nailed a three-pointer for a 73-71 lead. Rowland missed his attempt with 10 seconds remaining and Collins’ free throws iced the game.