Hapoel Holon defeated Igokea 92-82 to notch their first Basketball Champions League win to move their record to 1-2 in group stage play. The purples fell behind in the first half but went on a 17-0 run to begin the second half to spur Guy Goodes’s team to the victory.

Idan Zalmanson – Photo credit: BCL
Idan Zalmanson, Niv Misgav and Netanel Artzi all scored for Hapoel Holon while Sacar Anim and Dragan Milosavljevic countered for Igokea who grabbed a 29-26 lead after ten minutes of play. Elijah Mitrou-Long, Iftach Ziv and Marcus Bingham got into the action for the purples but Bryce Jones and Milosavljevic responded to stay in front 51-47 at halftime.

Dakarai Tucker – Photo credit: BCL
Guy Goodes’s squad came out on fire in the third quarter as Dakarai Tucker, Idan Zalmanson and Mitrou-Long paced the purples to a 17-0 run to begin the period while Michale Kyser also got into the act but Jones and Terrell Carter responded to stay within striking distance 72-64 after thirty minutes of action. Jalen Adams started to find the bottom of the basket while Mitrou-Long added points as well, Vasilije Pusica and Carter scored for Igokea but Bingham came back with huge buckets, Zalmanson scored as well while Tucker hit a corer 3-ball as the final buzzer sounded to seal the win for Holon.

Marcus Bingham – Photo credit: BCL
Zalmanson and Tucker scored 16 points each while Bingham scored 15 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in the victory. Milosavljevic scored 18 points as Anim and Jones each scored 15 points in the loss.

Guy Goodes – Photo credit: BCL
“It was a good effort,” Goodes began. “not easy but it was a good effort to get our first BCL win at our home and we feel that this is our home, with the wonderful hospitality that the people of Hungary give us. It was the wild, wild west to start the game as no team was making stops. But what was key was to stop the 3-poinetrs and they went 3/14 from 3 in the second half. We started very strong in the third quarter although we are still not at our best. We saw the factor that Mitrou can give us when he was playing and we need this after not having that the last 2 games. Making the 3-pointers at the end can help us with point differential. We made some poor turnovers but we are happy to get the win.”

Elijah Mitrou-Long – Photo credit: BCL
Elijah Mitrou-Long spoke about getting back onto the floor, “I felt solid on the court and the trainer got me prepared for the game after being out for 2.5 weeks. It was an easy transition to come back in.”
0 Comments