Barcelona defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 93-90 in a tightly contested matchup in Sofia, Bulgaria as the Reds saw their Euroleague record drop to 6-4 on the season.

Dimitrios Itoudis’s team saw Elijah Bryant and Vasilije Micic pour in the points as the reds were clearly in the drivers seat throughout the contest. However, midway through the third quarter, with Hapoel clinging onto a 60-53 lead, the visitors led by Dario Brizuela went on a 16-0 run to give Aleksander Sekulic’s team the lead for good and never look back as they notched the win.

Bryant scored 25 points and Micic added 24 points in the loss while Brizuela scored 22 points and Justin Robinson added 22 points in the loss.

Hapoel Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis reflected on the loss, “It was a bad outcome for us. We wanted to win but we played a hungrier team that forced us give up 16 offensive boards, Giving up the 9-point lead so quickly in the third quarter was just too much.”

Barcelona Head Coach Aleksander Sekulic spoke about the win, “The players did a great job on defense and we wanted to limit their best scorers, as they have a lot of firepower, but we found a way, when we didn’t score we rebounded and we played together. Our defense led to our offense and we mad the opponent nervous, the main thing was our defense to win the game.

Vasilije Micic had the hot hand for Hapoel Tel Aviv, Josh Nebo countered inside while Justin Robinson and Kevin Punter both scored for Barcelona, but a 3-pointer by Ish Wainright kept the Reds ahead 21-19 after ten minutes of play.

Robinson and Nebo scored to begin the second quarter, Wainright went from deep again, while Blakeney and Micic both scored, Tosan Evbuomwan found points, Dan Oturu started to become a factor inside, Elijah Bryant scored with ease but Robinson filled the basket including a triple as time wound down to even up the game at halftime, 46-46.

Bryant and Tyrese Martin traded baskets, while the former continued to score at will, Dario Brizuela began to chalk up the points to put the visitors in front, while Nebo also contributed as the period came to an end with Barcelona in front 73-64 after thirty minutes of action.

Martin, Robinson, Nebo ad Brizuela all scored to get the fourth quarter off and running and take a double digit advantage, Bryant, Micic and Zach LeDay scored to cut the lead down to 91-90 with less than half a minute to go, but a deuce by Brizuela and a wild miss at the buzzer by Micic secured the win for Barcelona.