Hapoel Tel Aviv cruised past Trento 89-68 as Bruno Caboclo dominated the Italian squad as the big man helped his team take the win. The Reds jumped out to a quick lead with Jonathan Motley, Marcus Foster and Tomer Ginat doing the damage along with Caboclo. Jordan Ford tried to keep the visitors close but Yam Madar, Antonio Blakeney and Caboclo filled the basket to give Dimitrios Itoudis’s team the win.

Caboclo scored 19 points, Blakeney added 13 points as Madar and Foster each scored 11 points in the victory. Ford scored 17 points and Anthony Lamb put in 11 points in the loss.

Jonathan Motley scored in the paint, Tomer Ginat went from the inside and outside, Marcus Foster and Yam Madar also found points, as did Bruno Caboclo with a dunk and Antonio Blakeney from downtown to help the Reds to a 26-17 lead after ten minutes of play. Caboclo and Madar both went from deep, Saliou Njang came back with points, Caboclo kept scoring, while Patrick Beverley scored inside of the arc and outside of it as well to grab a 48-26 advantage at halftime.

Foster, Madar and Motley continued to score, Jordan Ford and Jordan Bayehe responded for Trento but Hapoel stayed in front 65-50 after thirty minutes of action. Niang scored but Blakeney kept filling the basket as Caboclo also scored with ease to notch the win.

“We were in control from the beginning to the end,” Itoudis began. “Congrats to the players for their composure we played team basketball and we wanted to try different lineups and even with that we stayed at the same level. Ish Wainright was scoreless but he helped the team as Caboclo was the main scorer and that shows the composure. Trento is a tough team to play against and they lead the Italian league.”

The game MVP Bruno Caboclo spoke about the victory, “We are improving a lot and we followed the plan and it worked out well for us. I think he [Itoudis] has been on us a lot and that makes us give a lot on the court and that is what makes us a good team as we also did the job job on defense as well.”

“We played our game and struggled against their physicality and we committed 18 turnovers which was way too much for us,” Trento Coach Davide Dusmet said. “We had some common ideas in the third quarter and put in a good effort as well, but Hapoel deserved to win for sure. This is a high standard league and we want to be able to compete at this level.”