Hapoel Tel Aviv fell to Olympiacos 62-58 in Piraeus on Friday night. The Reds led 39-33 at halftime, but were held to just 4 points in the third quarter. Despite Olympiacos also struggling offensively in that frame (scoring only 11 points), the hosts took the lead, however, Vasilije Micic hot a pair of 3-pointers to tie the game update at 58-58. But a basket by Nikola Milutinov along with free throws from Sasha Vezenkov closed out the game for Olympaicos.

Antonio Blakeney led Hapoel scorers with 13 points, while Vasilije Micić and Collin Malcolm each added 10. On the other side, Sasha Vezenkov stood out with 14 points, Tyler Dorsey scored 11 and Nikola Milutinov recorded a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis spoke about the defeat, “We showed a good fight. Maybe the result wasn’t what we wanted, but we battled and brought the game to the point we wanted it to be. This game is a lesson and a good learning experience for us.”

“We needed to get back to our basics on defense,” Olympiacos Head Coach Georgios Bartzokas told EuroLeague TV. “They scored 4 points in the third quarter and 19 in the second half. This is the second-best offense in EuroLeague and the first team in the rankings. Holding them to 58 points is a big-time accomplishment.”

“[The key was] just getting back to it,” Thomas Walkup told EuroLeague TV after the game against Hapoel. “Getting back to who we are, getting back to what we do, having that dogginess that we haven’t had consistently. We’ve shown it in spurts, but tonight in the second half… the dogs are out, the dogs are barking.”

Colin Malcolm commented on the loss, “We had good shots in the third quarter, but they just didn’t go in, and we scored only four points in that quarter. Sometimes that’s basketball, and we have to remember that they also scored something like 12–13 points in the third quarter, which is also a testament to our defense and the level we’re capable of playing at. We’ll watch the game again, find solutions, and be better than this.”