Hapoel Jerusalem fell to Venezia 76-75 in a hard fought game that came right down to the wire as Kyle Wiltjer hit a pair of free throws down the stretch to take the lead and the victory. The loss drops the Reds record to 9-7 as there are now five teams with the identical record in EuroCup Division B.

Khadeen Carrington and Jared Harper scored for Hapoel Jerusalem while Xavier Munford paced Venezia as the two squads were all knotted up at 17-17 after ten minutes of play. Carrington continued to score while Jeremy Morgan and Yovel Zoosman found points as well, but Alessandro Lever, Mfiondu Kabengele and Aamir Simms gave Neven Spahija’s team a 38-37 advantage at halftime.

Tyler Ennis began finding the bottom of the basket, Carl Wheatle scored as well for the hosts while Carrington, Derek Ogbeide and Harper countered for the Reds but a Juan Fernandez triple gave Venezia a 61-58 lead after thirty minutes of action. Rodney McGruder started to fill the bucket, Carrington and Justin Smith responded, Ennis and Harper traded baskets but free throws by Kyle Wiltjer closed out the win for Venezia.

Carrington scored 21 points and Harper added 17 points in the loss while Kabengele scored 16 points, Wheatle put in 13 points and Ennis scored 12 points in the win.

“Venezia deserved the game and it could have ended up either way. We had an opportunity to win it but we missed the shot at the end. This is life,” Jerusalem Head Coach Yonatan Alon said. “We didn’t hit the most important free throws. We ned to win ad we have another important game in Israel.”

“Hapoel is a very good team but we played with the right energy,” Venezia Head Coach Neven Spahija said. “Other than the 20 offensive rebounds that Jerusalem took there is nothing I can say about teh team who have been incredible the entire month.”