Hapoel Tel Aviv crushed Anadolu EFES 118-88 as Antonio Blakeney did as he pleased to help the Reds improve their Euroleague record to 6-2 in the front end of a double week that will see Dimitrios Itoudis’s team head to Dubai for a Friday matchup in the United Arab Emirates. The Reds got out to a quick start as Dan Oturu, Zach LeDay and Eugene German scored while at the other end Colin Malcolm, Kai Jones and Matthew Strazel countered for EFES but the Reds grabbed a 27-21 lead after ten minutes of play.

Santi Yusta had the hot hand for EFES to begin the second quarter as he helped the visitors even up the score at 33-33 but Oturu and Antonio Blakney scored at will while Elijah Bryant also added points to give the Reds a 63-41 advantage at halftime.

It was all Bryant and Oturu in the third quarter, Jordan Loyd tried to keep the Turkish squad close but Eugene German also added points as did an active Blakeney to take a 90-59 lead by the end of the period. Blakeney along with Bruno Caboclo scored with ease in the final frame in garbage time galore as Dimitrios Itoudis’s side authored a blowout win.

Blakeney scored 35 points, Oturu added 20 points and Bryant scored 16 points in the victory while Loyd scored 19 points and Yusta put in 15 points in the loss.

Hapoel Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis discussed the win, “Big congratulations to our guys. We arrived short handed but we managed the pressure on team and paced the tempo on the defensive end. EFES had some good wins but we were able to manage the size and lineups that they featured.”

EFES Head Coach Pablo Laso spoke about the defeat, “They had an unbelievable shooting night, we didn’t approach the game as necessary to play a talented team like this one. Our defense was too soft and they were very hot and beat us. We need to now forget about this game as we have another one in 48 hours.”