First place in Group C will be on the line Tuesday when Hapoel Jerusalem hosts Aris BSA 2003 in the Israeli capital. Hapoel enters the game with a 3-2 record – one win less that Aris – but will overtake the Greek club for the top spot with a win by at least 4 points. If Jerusalem wins by 1-3 points, Aris would still win the group by virtue of the tiebreaker between the clubs after scoring an 81-77 victory in December. Aris will have a mush different look to its roster than it did then after releasing Juan Dixon, its leading scoring that game, and losing Nikos Barlos to injury, and adding Dragan Labovic and Ivan Paunic to the roster. Jerusalem will likely be without injured forward Kevinn Pinkney, but can rely on big man Brandon Hunter, who was named Eurocup Week 5 MVP after he shined with 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting plus 6 rebounds and 5 assists in an 81-96 win at BC Siauliai that clinched the club a Last 16 berth. Hunter will team with Leo Lyons and Uri Kokia in the Jerusalem frontcourt that will challenge center Andy Betts and forwards Dimos Dikoudis, Michalis Kakiouzis and Labovic. The hosts boast a deep backcourt with point guards Yuval Naimy and Pooh Jeter and swingman Tre Simmons. Dijon Thompson and Sharon Shason round out the rotation at forward. Aaron Miles and Keydren Clark will match up with Jeter and Naimy, while Euroleague champ Nikos Hatzivrettas and Paunic tangle with Simmons. Jeremy Richardson faces Thompson in what could be a determining duel for the encounter. Jerusalem has five different players averaging double figures in points and head coach Guy Goodes is not afraid to rely on the hot hand on any given night – four different players have led the team in scoring in the five games so far. Accordingly, the Aris defense must be ready to respect the Hapoel attack. On the other hand, if Pinkney is sidelined, Aris will boast a significant advantage in frontcourt size and depth, especially against the 2.17-meter Betts. Miles will be charged with maximizing that advantage to get his team some easy points that could prove very meaningful in the battle fro Group C supremacy.
REFEREES: Grzegorz Ziemblicki, Boris Shulga, Petar Obradovic