Hapoel Holon downed Bursaspor 84-74 as Xavier Munford helped the purples mount a second half comeback to secure the win in Basketball Champions League action. The home away from home victory in Szombathely, Hungary gives Danny Franco’s team a 1-0 record in group stage play as they will now ready for Badalona which will also be played at the Schaeffler Arena. Munford led all scorers with 26 points and 8 rebounds, Derrick Walton Jr. added 20 points and 11 assists while Jordan McRae put in 19 points in the win.

Head Coach Danny Franco spoke about the win, “We had a rough preseason and had one week to lock the team up before an opening home game, I am happy about teh attitude and maturity they guys showed, but the team played defense and rebounded. I am very happy we won this won. I am sure we will get better in the future and we are very happy as a win in the BCL right now is like gold for us.”

The game’s MVP Xavier Munford spoke about the win, “It was a great game, super proud, we haven’t had much time together we are new team, but we were resilient and it was a great game, played a great team and I am happy for our team.”

Bnei Herzliya came up short to Tofas Bursa 90-86 to open up their Basketball Champions League campaign on the wrong foot. Daeshon Francis, Chinnanu Onuaku (16p) and Elijah Stewart (23p) paced Yehu Orland’s team to a 74-60 lead late in the third quarter but Hugo Besson (20p) and Marek Blazevic (25p) scored points a penny while a pair of key baskets by Isaiah Whaley sewed up the comeback win by Bursa.

Herzliya Head Coach Yehu Orland spoke about the loss, “Compliments are great but we want to win so it’s frustrating, We will get better but right now after the loss we don’t feel good. Everybody knows that the group has quality, Tenerife, Tofas, we have a lot of respect but at the end if try day it’s just the name of the team.”

Noah Carter also spoke about the contest, “I thought the game was a little different just because we didn’t have any fans really so that was one thing, but I thought we played well down the stretch, lost the lead but we have things that we have to get better at. As a team for the first regular season game I was happy with how we played. We just got to tighten things up and finish down the end.”

Hapoel Jerusalem fell to Cedevita 99-84 to even up their record in EuroCup play at 1-1. The reds held a 53-42 lead at halftime thanks to fine play by backup center Dmytro Skapintsev (15p), but the Slovenian side came back with a huge second half outscoring Jerusalem 57-31 as DJ Stewart (27p), Aleksej Nikolic (22p) and Umoja Gibson (21p) led the way to the double-digit win.