Hapoel Tel Aviv used a terrific second half to drop Venezia 100-81 on Wednesday night and move to 9-2 in EuroCup play.
John Holland and Kyle Alexander helped Tel Aviv build up a slim lead over Venezia throughout the first half, but Jordan Parks and Rayjon Tucker led the Italians on a 14-5 run to close out the first half and grab a 47-41 lead.
Braian Angola, Jaylen Hoard, and Bar Timor began to ratchet up their game and contribute in the third quarter along with Xavier Munford, who made sure to send the Reds into the final frame with a 68-65 lead.
Munford continued to turn up the offense while Hoard did as well while Holland drilled home a triple to end the game with 100 points for the Reds, which ran away with the 19-point win.
Munford scored 25 points, Holland added 20 points and Alexander chipped in with 18 points in the win. Tucker scored 16 points for Venezia in the loss.
“I want to thank everyone here for making us feel at home at Stark Arena in Belgrade,” Reds coach Danny Franco began. “This was a super important win for us. Every week I am telling the guys that we are climbing another mountain and it gets harder every week. We were missing some key guys, but we are a team and we know how to cover up for each other. Guys stepping in for one another. It was very important for us to win here tonight as our fans were amazing guests who came here to be a part of this game and it’s a happy night.”
The bench boss also spoke about the challenges of the club’s schedule along with flying between Israel and Serbia.“We are a little short and we didn’t plan for this with flight after flight; it’s tough mentally and physically for big guys to get into a plane twice a week, but we are going one day at a time and then coming back to Belgrade. Rest and recover while coming into the next challenge like we did in this game.”
Hapoel revels in victory
Captain Bar Timor reflected on the win.
“We came away with a very, very important win which was not easy at all as we were missing some very important players. I am always proud of my club and today I am really proud 100 times over as we didn’t start well and we spoke about it how we could do better. We were able to get out of this together and recorded a very important win.”
Also in Belgrade, Hapoel Jerusalem dropped Benfica 97-68 to finish their Basketball Champions League group with a 5-1 record good for first place and a spot in the round-of-16 second group stage, which will begin at the end of January.Levi Randolph was hot all night long and notched a game-high 32 points as the Reds broke away after a close first quarter to record the 29-point win.
Jerusalem will play in a group with Tenerife and two qualifiers from the Play-In, which will be the winner of the Rytas and Peristeri matchup as well as the winner of the Karsiyaka and Rio Breogan duel.
In addition to Randolph’s 32 points, Bryton Lamar and Oz Blayzer each scored 11 points and Khadeen Carrington added 10 points in the win. Terrell Carter scored 22 points for Benfica and Aaron Broussard added 17 points in the defeat.
“In some moments we looked good in the game, but some I did not like with miscommunications leading to some problems,” Jerusalem coach Aleksandar Dzikic said. “Teams will come and will punish us. We are trying to not calculate and I have been doing this for a long time and automatics don’t work in basketball. When we step on the floor we try to do the best we can. The group was a tough one especially in our situation. We played against teams like PAOK and Benfica who have experience and if you don’t play well they will take advantage.”
Randolph reflected on the victory.
“It’s a testament to the team. It was a hectic season for us as we have been all over the place, but we stayed together and continued to work. We set goals early and were able to reach those goals by finishing the first group stage in first place.”
In Riga, Hapoel Holon fell to Bursaspor 75-74 in dramatic fashion after having been in front for almost the entire game.
Despite the loss, the Purples will head into the Play-In from second place in their group and will face Oostende in the best-of-3 series in which head coach Amir Sherf’s team will hold home-court advantage.
Shawn Dawson scored a trio of triples to get Hapoel Holon going as they grabbed a 19-10 lead after 10 minutes of action.
Bursaspor’s Anthony Brown and Michael Young started to cut into the advantage, but Hans Vanwign and CJ Harris made sure to send Sherf’s squad into halftime with a 36-28 lead.
Netanel Artzi and Justin Smith paced Holon in the third quarter while Omer Utku Ai kept the Turkish squad close.
Brown kept scoring in bunches to put his team in front, but Dawson drilled home a triple to give the Purples a 74-73 lead late.
However, Johnathan Hamilton was fouled with less than a second remaining in the game and hit a pair of key free-throws to take the narrow one-point win.
Dawson scored 17 points and Justin Smith added 16 points in the loss. Brown scored 26 points and Hamilton chipped in with 15 points in the win.
“Generally, we finished in second place in this group with everything that we have been through not being at home for one-and-a-half months,” Sherf said. “We were away from our fans, we needed them today and it would have been a big advantage. We could have finished in first place but that is on us. We started ok on, but they kept fighting. It’s a tough loss, but we will play against Oostende and one of the great coaches to advance to the round of 16.”
Dawson gave his thoughts on the game and having started on fire from deep.
“It gives a good feeling and motivation and it gets you into the game, things felt hot. But at the end of the day, we didn’t get the win and we didn’t do enough. We will learn from that and come in better for the elimination games.”
In Israeli league play, Ness Ziona defeated Maccabi Ramat Gan 86-74 as Tzuf Ben Moshe starred for the hosts in the win.
Shmulik Brenner’s squad did as it pleased early on as Jimmy Hall, Alex Hamilton and Isaiah Miles got busy for the visitors to grab a 45-39 lead at halftime. However, a solid second half led by Ben Moshe, Rawle Alkins, Isaiah Whitehead and Jerome Meyinsse helped Elad Hasin’s team to get back into the game and take the win.
Ben Moshe scored 19 points, Alkins added 15 points, Whitehead scored 14 points and Meyinsse chipped in with 13 points for Ness Ziona in the win. Hamilton scored 19 points, Miles put in 15 points and Hall dropped 13 points for Ramat Gan in the loss.