Hapoel Holon continues its European campaign after the victory in the opening round when it hosts the Belgian Ostend at this time in the second round of the FIBA Champions League.
Despite succumbing to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the semi-finals of the Winner Cup, Guy Goodes’ team continued to start a positive season overall that started with the victory in overtime against Legia Warsaw in the opening round of the Champions League.
They also experienced success in the first league game, with an important home victory, 76:80 in the meeting against Hapoel Jerusalem when Marvin Johnson starred with a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds and they hope to continue the momentum and achieve a third victory in a row tonight against Ostend who surrendered in the opening round to Galatasaray.
First quarter 24:20 to Ostend
The Hapoel Holon quintet: Joe Ragland, Chris Johnson, Marvin Jones, Hayden Dalton and Eric Green.
The Ostend Five: Brian Sherry, Kay van der Wroost, and Rahez Bellingberg, Simon Bayes, and Harris Bratnowicz.
Hapoel Holon’s first ball, Joe Ragland found Marvin Jones with a nice assist, Joe Ragland continued the good start by scoring a three-pointer, but the Belgians responded with a three-pointer of their own on the other side. The Belgians ran away a bit after good defensive work, but Marvin Jones started the game well and equalized the game back. Ragland and Jones took over Holon’s attacks as the pink and roll continued to work for Guy Goodes’ team, but Ostend capitalized on a mistake by the purple defense and went on a 0:10 run as they were very dangerous from outside the arc. Chris Johnson with excellent defensive work and then an offensive rebound when he ended up finding Ragland outside the arc, the guard scored a three and narrowed the gap from the Belgians in the first quarter.
Second quarter 40:40
Holon opened the quarter with three turnovers by Niv Mashgav, the Belgians did not take advantage of this to escape to the purple. Ragland continued to dish out assists to his teammates when he gave a great ball to Marvin Jones. The Belgians continue to snip from every corner with threes and manage to keep the gap from Holon. Dalton entered the game with first points with good penetration in the paint, Eric Green also got into things and with his own three-pointer reduced the Belgians’ lead to only three. Van der Verust doesn’t stop punishing the purple defense and with another three he returned the gap in favor of the Belgians. Excellent defense by the purples and a quick start to the attack when in the end Ragland again with a good ball into the paint, this time Dalton was there to tie the score with a run of 0:7. The Belgians continued to take advantage of Holon’s defensive mistakes, but two points at the end of the quarter by Green brought the teams to a tie.
Third quarter 67:61 to Ostend
The Belgians opened with a dunk by Bratanovic and an easy shot from half distance by van de Verust, the hot man from Holon answered with a three of his own. The guest scores from every corner outside the arc and this time it was Tyrei’s turn. Tyree took over the game in favor of the Belgians when he scored another 3-pointer, received a foul and opened a gap of 7 points. A quick pass by Holon, led by Ragland, found Green in the corner and the guard hit a 3-pointer that reduced the gap to just one point and reached his own 10 points. A three-pointer and a foul on Truman opened the game’s largest gap of double digits and another run of 0:7. Niv Mashgav was sent to the line in the last attack of the quarter, missed the second ball, but the rebound reached Ragland, who handed out another assist to Johnson from the corner, scored a three-pointer and reduced the deficit to six points heading into the final quarter.
fourth quarter
The quarter opened with a foul on Johnson, the forward hit both shots from the line, Ragland’s triple brought Halalon back to business and reduced the gap to only three. Holon’s hot man, Joe Ragland with a three-pointer from the corner tied the game seven minutes from time.