Jerusalem plays Buducnost in Eurocup home opener

While it will only be playing its second Eurocup game of the season on Tuesday night, Hapoel Jerusalem can scarcely afford another defeat when it hosts Buducnost of Montenegro.

Jerusalem suffered a humbling 86-72 defeat at Lietkabelis Panevezys of Lithuania in its continental opener last Wednesday, trailing by as many as 21 points at one stage.

With the regular season including 10 games and four of the six teams in the group to advance to the Top 16, Jerusalem will still have plenty of time to bounce back even should it fall to 0-2. However, another loss would significantly dent the team’s confidence and put it under pressure ahead of the visit of strong German side Bayern Munich next week.

Hapoel moved to 2-0 in the BSL after beating Maccabi Rishon Lezion 90-85 in its home opener on Saturday, but has so far looked disjointed under new coach Fotis Katsikaris, who believes patience will be the key to success.

“The beginning of the season can never be easy,” explained captain Yotam Halperin. “It is completely normal that this is the situation with the team having a new system and a new coach. It is very important for us to continue and improve.”

Also Tuesday, Hapoel Holon will try and get off the mark in 2017/18 when it hosts AS Moncao in its second FIBA Champions League game. Holon has lost its first two BSL games and dropped to a two-point defeat to Murcia in Spain in continental action last week.

On Monday, newly-promoted Ironi Ness Ziona registered its first win of the BSL campaign, beating Hapoel Gilboa/Galil 79-71. Ness Ziona trailed by seven points (38-31) at the break, but scored nine of the first 10 points of the second half to move into the lead and an 11-2 run to end the third period gave it a nine-point lead (56-47) it wouldn’t relinquish. Elad Hoffman led five Ness Ziona players in double figures with 18 points. Tyler Stone scored 16 points for Gilboa, which has split its first two HBNFT PG UIF TFBTPO KVTU MJLF /FTT ;JPOB