Hapoel Tel Aviv fell 89-85 to Olympiacos in a tight battle between two of the Euroleague’s top teams. With the loss, the reds saw their record drop to 22-14 and moved into 5th place with two games remaining as they will look to clinch a playoff spot next week when they play Maccabi in the Tel Aviv Derby on Sunday.

Dimitrios Itoudis’s team began the game with an 11-0 run thanks to Dan Otutu and Elijah Bryant but Tyler Dorsey and Donta Hall turned the contest around and scored a quick six points in the final 6 seconds of the first half to take 51-48 lead. From there it was neck-and-neck between the two teams as Antonio Blakeney scored at will, but Sasha Vezenkov started to fill the basket as well while Dorsey and Alex Peters found points to close out the victory.

Blakeney scored 16 points, Bryant added 15 points and Vasilije Micic put in 14 points in the loss while Dorsey scored 23 points, Peters chipped in with 11 points as Vezenkov and Cory Joseph each scored 10 points in the win.

“The game could have ended as a win on our side as well, credit to them,” Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis began. “As I said, their offensive rebounding really hurt us, we struggled with it throughout the entire game, no matter how or with whom we played. Aside from that, after the first half we were more physical in the second half and we missed an opportunity. The marathon continues.”

“This was a fantastic win on the road for us versus Hapoel which is a very talented team especially on offense,” Olympiacos Head Coach Georgios Bartzokas began. “Our defense was solid in the second half. This was a win that gave us home court advantage which is what we looked for since the start of the season. This was a crazy atmosphere by our fans on the road and we are all grateful to the fans, from the owners, to the players and the staff especially me and we promise we will give everything to succeed this season.”

The game MVP Tyler Dorsey spoke about the win, “The offensive rebounding points were significant. It’s good to win a close game, it’s been a tough week on our bodies, it’s good to be able to rest this weekend for the last game next week. This is the most important part of the season and we’re playing our best basketball of the season. We just want to continue our momentum into the playoffs. Everyone got into it.”

Antonio Blakeney also shared his thoughts on the game, “It was a tough game and they are a great team, hats off to them. We’re still fighting and we are trying to earn our spot in the playoffs.”

Dan Otruru, Elijah Bryant, Colin Malcolm and Vasilije Micic started off the game on fire and quickly built up a 11-0 Hapoel Tel Aviv lead but Donta Hall did damage on the inside while Tyler Dorsey scored from the outside to give Olympiacos a 22-18 lead after ten minutes of play. Chris Jones and Antonio Blakeney began to score at will but Cory Joseph, Tyson Ward and Alec Peters all responded while the duo of Dorsey and Hall combined for 6 points in the last 6 seconds of the half to give the Greek squad a 51-48 advantage.

Sasha Vezenkov began to make an impact on the game as he scored in bunches to begin the third quarter while Nikola Milutinov also found points as Oturu, Malcolm and Blakeney answered but Georgios Bartzokas’s team headed into the final frame with a 73-67 lead. Dorsey kept scoring while Blakeney and Micic put in points for Dimitrios Itoudis’s team to close the gap to just 86-84, but a Peters basket and Dorsey free throw closed out the game.

Maccabi Tel Aviv were overwhelmed by Paris Basket 113-80 in a game that was never close as the yellow-and-blue are on the verge of elimination from Euroleague Play In contention as their record drops back down to .500 at 18-18 with two games remaining. Allan Dokossi, Sebastian Herrera and Justin Robinson got busy for Paris while Lonnie Walker and Oshae Brissett answered for Maccabi Tel Aviv but points from Jared Rhoden gave the hosts a 41-24 lead after ten minutes of play.

Herrera and Amath M’Baye along with Nadir Hifi poured in the points as Brissett and Walker tried to keep the yellow-and-blue in the game but Julius Thomas squad stayed in front row 61-28 at halftime. Robinson and Dokossi continued to score as did Hifi to bump the score up to 93-58 while Robinson kept scoring in the final frame to close out the 33-point win. Walker scored 16 points and Marcio Santos added 13 points in the loss while Robinson scored 25 points and Herrera put in 16 points in the victory.

“It was really bad,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Oded Katash began. “It was very embarrassing and we should be embarrassed form our performance. We didn’t play to win and we weren’t aggressive enough, we were not ready even though we talked the last few days. This was a tough week for us. We lost our game plan and we lost our body language, it was more than basketball.”