Hapoel Tel Aviv fell to Real Madrid 87-81 as their Euroleague debut season came to and end being eliminated in the quarterfinals 3-1. The Reds jumped out to an early lead, but Los Blancos came storming back to go in front by the end of the opening frame and then increased the gap to ten points, 46-36 by halftime. Dimitrios Itoudis’s team tried to cut down the advantage but were unable to as Sergio Scariolo’s team notched the series win.

Usman Garuba scored 16 points while Mario Hezonja and Theo Maledon each scored 14 points in the victory. Dan Oturu scored 29 points and Vasilije Micic put in 18 points in the loss.

Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis looked back at the season, “Congratulations to Real Madrid, they were the better team this series. Madrid took over but we never gave up, however, we couldn’t come back. We were the team that led the league for over four months we always stayed in contact with a playoff spot the entire time which we qualified for directly and not through the Play In. We also secured a spot for the following year in the Euroleague and we will use this to build for years to come. It was a brutal schedule and that is also due to the changing situation. Good things for Hapoel Tel Aviv are about to come and we are all on the same page.”

In the first game of the series, Dimitros Itoudis’ squad fell 86-82 in Spain, while in Game 2 the Spaniards also dominated with a 102-75 win. However, the Tel Aviv side refused to give up and earned a huge 76-69 victory in Game 3 in Bulgaria, cutting Real’s series lead in half, largely thanks to an outstanding performance from Elijah Bryant.

Levi Randolph started the game well with a 3-pointer while Dan Oturu quickly got involved, as well to help the reds to a 13-2 lead. But Mario Hezonja showed his quality and together with Facundo Campazzo brought Los Blancos back to within one point with shooting from the outside. Chuma Okeke went from deep while Oturu dunked, but Campazzo answered at the other end to give Real their first lead of the game. Elijah Bryant dialed up long distance, Theo Maledon hit a difficult mid-range shot and followed it up with a drive to the hoop to give Madrid a 23-21 lead after ten minutes of play.

Usman Garuba opened the second quarter with a dunk while Andres Feliz, Maledon and Trey Lyles extended the lead to 36-21. Maledon hit a triple, Oturu put in a pair of baskets while Campazzo went from deep to head into halftime with a 10-point, 46-36 advantage.

Garuba and Micic traded baskets to open the third quarter as the latter kept finding the bottom of the bucket. Oturu kept scoring on the inside, Lyles and Kessler Edwards each scored but more points from Maledon gave the visitors a 63-53 lead after thirty minutes of action.

Lyles came out hot to start the fourth quarter and nailed a 3-pointer, Alex Len dunked it home while Chris Jones also scored, but Gabriel Deck answered with a basket that caused Itoudis to call timeout. Oturu found more points, Edwards scored as well while Micic hit his shots but Garuba and Mario Hezonja proved to be unstoppable down the stretch to close out the win and the series.