The 28-year-old guard scored half of his team’s 18 points in overtime
Harper takes over in overtime as Jerusalem beats unyielding Cluj to clinch top spot in Group A
Informes de partidos
3 Min lectura
Regular Season
Round 17 of 18
Regular Season
group a
Hapoel Midtown JerusalemJLM
114104
U-BT Cluj-NapocaUBT
group a
Overview
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Wednesday’s clash between the two finest offenses in the BKT EuroCup this season lived up to expectations, as Hapoel Midtown Jerusalem needed overtime to beat an unyielding U-BT Cluj-Napoca 114-104 at Pais Arena in the Israeli capital. The hosts led by as many as 23 points with 2:36 to go in the third quarter, but the visitors had no intention of giving up.
Coming off four straight losses on the road, Cluj launched an epic comeback to turn the game into a trade of blows in crunch time. Trey Woodbury scored 16 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter, including a clutch triple to bring the guests within 95-94 and a couple of free throws that sent the game to overtime at 96-96.
The victory was enough for Jerusalem to clinch the top spot in Group A and with it a bye in the eighthfinals and Jared Harper wouldn’t let this opportunity slip. Having already netted 8 of his team’s last 13 games in regulation, Harper kept on carrying the team on his shoulders in overtime.
The 28-year-old guard nailed 7 straight points before hitting a couple of free throws that gave his team a 107-102 advantage.
“When I’m able to get into the rhythm like that offensively, I feel like my job is easy, being able to score, draw fouls,” Harper stressed.
Then it was time for Harper to turn from scorer into contributor by setting up Khadeen Carrington for back-to-back triples that practically put the game to bed.
“It felt great [hitting those threes],” Carrington said after the game. “I had a hot first half, kinda cooled off, but Harp kinda took over the game, so we just let him do what he does and he found me on two great shots. So it was just my job to knock them down.”
Harper ended the game on a season-high 30 points, having gone 14-for-16 from the charity stripe. Carrington pitched in 20 points, including the aforementioned overtime daggers, with Austin Wiley also pulling a historic outing as he tied the club record with 17 rebounds.
“Tonight’s MVP for me was Austin [Wiley],” Harper noted. “He always does a great job rebounding. Tonight, he stepped up and made some big free throws [in the closing stages of the fourth quarter]. Glad to have him on my team and glad to have contributions from everybody.”
Having already clinched top spot in Group A, Jerusalem will look to secure the first overall seed by beating Umana Reyer Venice on the road next week. And the way this victory came provides them with both an extra boost in morale following two straight losses, as well as important momentum heading into the playoffs.
“I think that [this win] does mean a lot, because you don’t want to be the team that has to play perfect to win,” Harper said. “We saw how we can play really good and take the lead and then the flip, not play as well and give up the lead, but being able to fight through and do what we had to do to win the game. It’s really good, especially for this time of the year, when we get closer to the EuroCup playoffs and being able to play for championships.”
Should they manage the best record in EuroCup, the Israeli side will automatically earn home-court advantage throughout the tournament. Given that they’ve won seven of their nine home games thus far and taking into account that Harper is heading into postseason play in top form, Jerusalem has what it takes to go all the way.
