Hapoel Holon fell to Joventut Badalona 81-65 as their Basketball Champions League record evened up at 1-1. Adam Hanga and Ricky Rubio found points early on to grab a 40-33 lead at halftime as Derrick Walton and Todd Withers tried to keep the purples close but Henri Drell and Ludde Hakanson scored down the stretch to help the visitors take the win. Drell and Rubio each scored 14 points while Hanga added 11 points in the win while Walton scored 14 points and Withers put in 13 points in the loss.

“We started the game not bad but we were always missing something, a step or an inch basketball wise,” Holon Head Coach Danny Franco said. “We need the time to get better, Joventut have a lot of experience and their players played the game better than us. We knew that we would have to step up and play to our highest level to win it. I respect the effort the guys made but it was not enough to beat Joventut, We have to get back to the court and ready for our game on Saturday (against Hapoel Jerusalem).”

“It was a tough game against a talented team,” Badaloa bench boss Daniel Miret said. “They have a different style but we controlled the majority of the game. We only had one turnover in the second half which was important for our team and that talks very well as to how we shared the ball and our concentration.”

Derrick Walton spoke about the defeat, “Give credit to them they executed their game plan and got the ball in spots where they were effective but we have some things we can draw from this game.”

Adam Hanga spoke about the win, “It was an emotional game for me as a Hungarian as it was my first game for me in Hungary after playing abroad for 15 years. It was nice to see my family and friends. Holon was a team with a lot to talent but we grabbed our rebounds and played well.”