Hapoel Tel Aviv cruised to a 94-74 win over Hapoel Gilboa Galil as 5 players scored in double digits to notch the commanding victory. Antonio Blakeney scored at will throughout the contest, but Bar Timor was also instrumental in helping break open the game on a couple of occasions for Dimitrios Itoudis’s team as they chalked up another Israeli league conquest ahead of next week’s EuroCup semifinal series against Valencia.

Blakeney scored 24 points, Timor added 12 points and Bruno Caboclo chipped in with 11 points in the win. Ish El-Amin scored 16 points and Ben Moore put in 15 points in the loss.

“We had a slow start on the defensive end up until they scored their first 14 points,” Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis said. “We were slow and we did. It have good actions or reactions. From that point we were the better team on the court and put in the effort in both sides of the court, it was a nice game for us.”

“We came into the game after a big win at Holon,” Gilboa Galil Head Coach Sharon Avrahami began. “We weren’t aggressive enough in the first 26 minutes when it was only about 7-9 point gap. Credit to Hapoel Tel Aviv who were very good and we tried to cut the gap but we just couldn’t do it.”

Noam Yaacov looked back at the game, “We started a slow energy wise not using our fouls but we picked it up good and I’m glad we ended the game well. It was key for me to find the rhythm and get the other guys involved. We shared the ball and that helped get the other guys into the game.”

Roie Netzia reflected on the loss, “We had a great game in holon but we had issues here especially in the rebounding. Ultimately that hurt us as we headed into the fourth quarter and we couldn’t come back.”

Bruno Caboclo controlled the paint early on while Antonio Blakeney got into a shooting groove for Hapoel Tel Aviv, Ish El-Amin and Gur Lavi countered for Hapoel Gilboa Galil but the Reds took a 27-22 lead after ten minutes of play. Bar Timor picked up points to begin the second quarter, Tomer Ginat added points while Noam Yaacov did as well to bump the Hapoel lead up to 46-37 at halftime.

Ish Wainright went from deep to begin the third quarter, Elijah Childs and Ben Moore tried to cut into the advantage, Blakeney came back from deep while Timor went from the inside and outside, but Paul Scruggs and Niv Misgav again kept the visitors hanging around however a triple from Oz Blayzer put Dimitrios Itoudis’s team in front 70-57 after thirty minutes of action. Caboclo scored to begin the final frame, Blakeney, Blayzer and Guy Palatin all added buckets to close out the 20-point win.