“It’s almost impossible to beat one of the top teams in the competition five straight times, but we came close. Congrats to Hapoel and now we move on to try and win the series in four games.”
Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Real Madrid Baloncesto 76-69 on Tuesday night as Elijah Bryant starred in a do-or-die Game 3 win to keep the Reds’ EuroLeague season alive.
The victory cut the best-of-five quarterfinal series to 2-1 in favor of Madrid and set up another crucial Game 4 on Thursday night back at Tel Aviv’s home-away-from-home in Bulgaria.
Bryant powers Hapoel past Real Madrid
On Tuesday, Los Blancos grabbed an early lead with Facundo Campazzo and Gabriel Deck orchestrating the offense, but Chris Jones and Bryant cut the advantage down to 36-34 by halftime.
Vasilije Micic began to make an impact for Hapoel, but so did Trey Lyles at the other end. However, Antonio Blakeney and Dan Oturu helped Dimitrios Itoudis’s team take the lead for good as the Reds kept their foot on the gas to close out the victory.
Bryant and Jones each scored 19 points to lead Tel Aviv while Micic added 13 points in the win. Lyles scored 14 points, Deck put in 11 points, and Campazzo scored 10 points for Real in the loss.
Itoudis looked back at the win while also speaking about Bryant making the EuroLeague Team of the Season.
“I want to congratulate my team for going to 2-1 in the series and Elijah for winning the award. It was a do-or-die situation for us against a great team, and even though we were down by 10 points, we found the right chemistry and dug all the way into the bench. We won the rebounding battle, and keeping Real Madrid at 69 points says a lot. We played like a playoff team.”
Real Madrid coach Sergio Scariolo spoke about the defeat
“It’s almost impossible to beat one of the top teams in the competition five straight times, but we came close. Congrats to Hapoel and now we move on to try and win the series in four games.”
Bryant also commented after the victory.
“We have to play with energy and a sense of urgency. They out-hustled us in Madrid, but we came out here in the third quarter and got the win.”
Israeli league roundup: Ness Ziona, Herzliya and Netanya win
In Israeli league action, Ironi Ness Ziona defeated Hapoel Holon 104-98 as Desi Rodriguez, Bryce Brown and Marques Bolden led the visitors past the hosts, who were paced by Adama Sanogo, Darin Green Jr. and Netanel Artzi.
Rodriguez scored 24 points, and Bolden added 18 points in the victory while Sanogo scored 26 points and Green put in 21 points in the loss.
Bnei Herzliya eased past Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan 104-88 as Yehu Orland’s team scored early and often to take a 56-43 lead at halftime and never looked back, as six players scored in double digits.
Shalev Lugashi scored 19 points, Zack Bryant added 18 points, while Evan Bruinsma and Jordon Varnado scored 17 points apiece in the win. Gil Beni and Terrell Brown Jr. scored 17 points each for Ramat Gan in the loss.
Elitzur Netanya walloped Maccabi Ra’anana 102-77 as Eli Rabi’s team jumped out to a huge lead right from the tipoff, with Otis Frazier pacing the hosts to the 25-point win.
Frazier scored 35 points and finished the game with a 50 efficiency rating; Amit Gershon scored 20 points, and Cameron Oliver added 18 points in the victory, while Tyrece Radford scored 18 points and Javion Hamlet put in 17 points for Ra’anana in the loss.