Hapoel Tel Aviv eased past Buducnost 92-72 as Johnathan Motley scored 30 points to pace the reds to the victory. Motley scored for Hapoel Tel Aviv as Rasheed Suleiman countered for Buducnost early on, Joe Ragland and Bar Timor started to score in bunches, McKinley Wright tried to keep the visitors close but Motley finished the half off strong to take a 46-38 lead. Marcus Foster hit his 3-pointers while Noam Yaacov scored as well, but Motley kept finding the bucket to polish off the win.

Motley scored 30 points, Foster added 23 points and Timor checked in with 10 points in the win. Wright and Sulaimon each scored 13 points in the loss.

“Hapoel was better for three quarters,” Buducnost Head Coach Andrej Zakelj said. “We played a good first quarter and we played defense but then we stoped especially in one-on-one situations. We were a disaster on the pick-and-roll situations, we played without fight or energy you can’t expect to win against this good team in this type of game. We had a few good minutes in the second half but it was not enough. We will have to analyze this and work to improve.”

“I have to give credit to the staff and the fans who came here to support us,” Hapoel Tel Aviv Stefanos Dedas said. “We deserved the win but we started the first quarter a bit tight and nervous. We won the second quarter 29-16 and the way we played in the second half was good. We played two styles, one with Johnathan Motley as the target player and Bruno Caboclo who could spread the lines. I like to play this way where we can cover all of the parameters. I’m satisfied because we beat a very good team.”

Noam Yaacov also reflected on the game, “This was not an easy team to play against and they were very aggressive, but we played together, had good pace and we trusted each other. Now we have to keep going.”

Hapoel Jerusalem cruised to a 94-83 victory over Ljubljana as Jared Harper was unstoppable with 30 points to help the reds take the win d move their EuroCup record to 4-2. Harper paced Jerusalem early on as the guard along with Chris Johnson and Gabi Chachashvili scored for the Reds while Devin Robinson, Devante Jones and Martinas Geben found the basket for Ljubljana but Yonatan Alon’s team took a 45-36 lead at halftime. Khadeen Carrington and Yovel Zoosman kept scoring for Hapoel while Gregor Glas and Jaka Blazic tried to keep the hosts close but more points from Harper wrapped up the win.

Harper scored 30 points, Zoosman added 18 points and Carrington scored 17 points in the win. Blazic scored 15 points and Glas chipped in with 13 points in the defeat.

“We were missing our two main big men,” Jerusalem Head Coach Yonatan Alon began. “We didn’t know how the game will develop but we knew we would have to play on the perimeter with the guards ad we tried to make it work. I am happy that we controlled the pace of play for the majority of the game and that we won.”

Maccabi Ramat Gan came up short against Bonn 86-78 as Shmulik Brenner’s squad weren’t able to wipe out a 17-point first half deficit as their Basketball Champions League group stage record fell to 1-2. Darius McGhee and Phalandrous Fleming gave Bonn an early lead as Amin Stevens and Adam Ariel tried to mount a comeback, however it came up short as the Israeli squad picked up their second loss of the season.

Stevens scored 23 points and Ariel added 17 points in the loss whole McGhee dropped 23 points and Fleming chipped in with 22 points in the win.

“I am proud of the guys, how we fought after we dug ourselves a huge hole in the first half,” Ramat Gan Head Coach Shmulik Brenner. “But after we matched their intensity we were better but it was too big a hole to come back from. We will learn from this and comeback better next game.”