Hapoel Holon fell to Rio Breogan 82-72 as their record dropped to 2-1 in Basketball Champions League play. The hosts jumped out to an early lead that the purples cut down by the final frame but an active Justin Anderson scored points a plenty to help Bream notch the win and get back on track.

Drew Crawford had the hot hand early on for Hapoel Holon but Mouhamet Diouf and Connor Frankamp helped Rio Breogan to a 41-33 lead at halftime. Amine Noua came out like a player possessed in the second half while Justin Smith also scored some big buckets to draw even at 64-64 in the middle of the fourth quarter. But Justin Anderson with a number of baskets in crush time handed the hosts the win.

“The first 5 minutes we created some stops and we missed the opportunity to create a gap which allowed them to get into the game,” Head Coach Amit Sherf said. “They played well inside, caught the ball deep and forced us to make fouls. They gained confidence from that. When we came back and closed the gap we were unable to control the game as we missed a round and other possessions along with an and-one in transition which we can’t allow in this situation. The group is wide open and all 4 teams have a chance. Now we will look ahead to our next game.”

Justin Smith spoke about the game from his point of view, “In the first half we were controlling what they were doing offensively and defensively we stuck to our principles. But then to start the second half we kind of let the game get away from us and we let them go on a run. We had to try and claw our way back and we were able to tie it up and take a lead, but we made too many mistakes defensively especially when they would throw the ball inside in the final quarter.”