She arrived after a loss to Hapoel Holon, she arrived knowing that she was meeting the team with the best balance in the factory, and yet, Hapoel Tel Aviv trampled Gran Canaria tonight (Wednesday) 70:92 at Shlomo Hall thanks to an amazing basketball display on both sides of the court. Thanks to the impressive victory, the Reds clung to the top of Group B and registered their seventh victory in a row in the Eurocup.
Already at the beginning of the first quarter, the host took a big and quick advantage, which she only increased and increased as the minutes passed, thereby stopping an equally impressive streak of the Spaniards, who came to deal with seven consecutive victories in the European factory, until they encountered Dani Franco’s group.
If we look at the table, Hapoel did not let Turk Telecom, which also won this cycle, escape and remained in the same balance with the Turks, who are in second place thanks to the cavalry in the internal games. In addition, following the victory, the Reds are only one game behind Gran Canaria, when of course in this domestic meeting the Israelis have the priority after tonight’s game.
First quarter: 12:26 to Hapoel Tel Aviv
Hapoel Tel Aviv Quintet: Xavier Manford, Jordan McRae, Tomer Ginath, Jacob Brown and Chinano Onoaku.
Gran Canaria’s top five: AJ Slaughter, Alexander Balcherowski, Andrew Albisi, John Shurna, and Miguel Salvo.
After a minute’s silence in memory of those killed in Turkey and Serbia, Onuaku opened the game with a steal that set Manford up for easy points at the other end, but Albisi equalized from half distance. McRae’s step-back from beyond the arc and Onuaku’s jump shot set up a 2:7 advantage, when four more from the Chief and McCrae were already too much for Yaka Lakabuch, who took the first time out of the game trailing by nine.
Even after the timeout, the Reds continued their great ability, when Belcherovski scored two for the Spaniards, but immediately Brown and Onuaku went on a 0:9 run alone, 4:20 for the Reds. After five minutes of play, the guest scored the first field goal when Basas penetrated beautifully, but this was also answered quickly by the Reds, when Timur and Tokoto penetrated just as beautifully. Kleicic made Gran Canaria’s first three-pointer and gave his team some hope just before the end of the quarter.
Second quarter: 31:47 to Hapoel Tel Aviv
Hapoel continued in the second quarter exactly where it left off, Shaginat found Manford beyond the arc for three quick points, only this time the Spaniards were on the responding side when two triples by Benita and Klejcic reduced the score to 11 points and forced Franco to take his first timeout. The guest already thought she was coming back when Shurna’s 3-pointer brought it down to ten, until Brown’s penetration and McRae’s monstrous dunk made it 21:35. After the Spaniards scored two from the line, their unsportsmanlike foul on Manford plus McCray’s three-pointer gave Danny Franco and his minions a 17-point advantage, with Shurna minimizing damage with three points of his own. Tokoto and McRae closed an amazing half for their team with a very promising lead.
Third quarter: 47:70 to Hapoel Tel Aviv
The bad half of his team didn’t go unnoticed by the Slovenian coach, who started with a completely different five to the one that started the game, but even that didn’t help the Spaniards who saw Manford finish off a brilliant assist from Brown, with two of Onuaku establishing a record lead of 20 points. Hapoel didn’t stop and the run at the beginning of the quarter was already 0:8 when Manford closed an outburst with two easy ones, while on the other side, until Balcherovsky finally put his team on the board in the second half, Ginat answered him with an and-one. Two by McRae established Hapoel’s 30 (!) advantage, until Shurna responded with two baskets and shrunk a bit.
fourth quarter
It took less than ten seconds for Tokoto to grab a ball and run alone to dunk on the other side. A three by Manford, two by Hurd and a great assist by Brown to Manfrod only increased the already huge gap and shook the crowd. Brown went up to 11 points, to which he also added 12 assists with a great basket, when McRae’s steal ended with his huge dunk on the other side, in what was the exclamation mark of Hapoel Tel Aviv’s impressive victory.