It was a rough European week for Israeli basketball teams as Hapoel Tel Aviv was eliminated from the EuroCup by Besiktas and Hapoel Jerusalem will have to wait yet another week to find a way to clinch a place in the Basketball Champions League postseason after being crushed by Peristeri.While Hapoel Holon stayed alive for a place in the BCL quarterfinals with a win over Promitheas, the Purples’ chances to advance are slim due to the point differential gap within their round-of-16 group.Hapoel Tel Aviv crashed out of Europe after falling to Besiktas 94-89 in the EuroCup quarterfinals to end its continental campaign on a sour note in Vilnius, Lithuania.The Reds jumped all over the Turkish squad as Will Cummings scored at will while Bar Timor and Jaylen Hoard helped Tel Aviv build up a 57-39 advantage at halftime. However, Besiktas started to chip away at the lead with huge baskets by Jonah Mathews, Matthew Mitchell and Derek Needham and while Tomer Ginat tried to keep Hapoel ahead Mitchell from deep and Mathews from the line completed the comeback and notched the win for the visitors.Cummings scored 28 points, Hoard added 16 points while Timor and Tomer Ginat each scored 13 points for Tel Aviv in the loss. Mathews led Besiktas with 28 points, Mitchell chipped in with 22 points as Needham scored 14 points.
“Besiktas opened up the second half much more aggressive and unfortunately we fell into that letting them build the momentum,” Hapoel Tel Aviv coach Danny Franco said. “We played our exact game plan trying to go at specific guys and get them loaded with fouls, but it only worked until a point. Ultimately, we couldn’t make the plays we needed to.”“But I guess that’s a price we are paying for a lot of guys kind of being out of shape or not really in a good mood that they can come right up and stay as focused and balanced all the way through.”
When in Greece
In Greece, Hapoel Holon slipped by Promitheas 93-92 in a thriller to keep alive its slim chances to advance to the Basketball Champions League quarterfinals.The Purples took control of the game early as Kevin Hervey, Tahjere McCall and Justin Smith were all busy to grab a 47-34 lead at halftime. But Cameron Reynolds and Anthony Cowan helped the hosts come all the way back to tie the game up at 90-90 with under a minute to go in regulation.However, Holon coach Amit Sherf drew up a perfect play for a Drew Crawford 3-pointer to put the visitors ahead for good to take the victory.Hervey scored 20 points, McCall added 14 points and Yotam Hanochi scored 12 points in the win. Cowan scored 30 points to pace Promitheas and Reynolds added 19 points in the loss.With the win, Holon (3-2) will have an opportunity next week to punch its ticket to the quarterfinals of the competition if it can defeat Murcia in Hungary and AEK bests Promitheas. Should that not happen, the Purples’ European adventure will come to a close.“It’s a big win especially here at Promitheas who are a very good team,” Sherf said. “We needed to win by double digits and while this was a great game for us, the loss against Promitheas in Hungary made us have to deal with point differential. We will go to Murcia and hope that AEK will be able to defeat Promitheas and we can advance from a very tough group.”Hervey spoke about the win. “It was a great game from the team. We shot well and shared the ball, we had some defensive lapses but we did enough to win the game.”In Hungary, Hapoel Jerusalem was crushed by Peristeri 76-61 in Basketball Champions League round-of-16 Group Stage play and will now enter the final gameday next week needing a win over Karsiyaka to advance to the quarterfinals of the competition.The Greeks came out passing and controlled the tempo from the get-go, with Joe Ragland leading the way to take a 44-37 lead at halftime.The Reds tried to cut down the slim advantage, but Ragland and Elijah Mitrou-Long were too much for Speedy Smith and the rest of the Jerusalem squad as they cruised to the victory.Smith scored 10 points for Hapoel as JaCorey Williams, Levi Randolph and Khadeen Carrington all scored nine points in the loss. Ragland scored 16 points, Mitrou-Long added 15 points and Trevor Thompson scored 10 points in the win.“There are not a lot of things for us to keep from this game,” Jerusalem coach Ilias Kantzouris said. “We didn’t show up on offense and there was a lack of energy. We have to be more ready and we didn’t execute. We were always late on loose balls and we have to wait another week not to play Karsiyaka in order to advance to the Elite 8.”Hapoel’s Brynton Lemar reflected on the loss.“It was a tough game, Peristeri came ready and we were lacking a little energy and missing assignments that we are normally accustomed to. This is the BCL and every game is tough. We have to get back to our identity and I am sure we will. Our goal is to get as far as we can and get to the Elite 8.”