Hapoel Tel Aviv fell 104-101 to Partizan Belgrade in overtime in a game that saw the Serbian club comeback from a 27-point third quarter deficit to take the victory over a stunned reds side. The loss drops Hapoel’s record 16-7 but still hold onto first place.

In a game that took place in Munich due to Partizan’s arena having been booked with another event, Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad jumped out to a quick 27-17 lead after ten minutes of action and without one of their star players Elijah Bryant who was unavailable due to an injury. Dan Oturu and Johnathan Motley controlled the paint while Vasilije Micic scored with ease as did Chris Jones as the Reds headed into halftime with a commanding 56-35 advantage.

Hapoel continued to pile in the points and bumped up their lead to 64-37 during the third quarter, but Joan Pennaroya’s players didn’t give up as Cam Payne, Vanja Maronkovic and Arijan Lakic mounted a massive comeback to draw even at 88-88 while big man Bruno Fernando swatted away a potential game winning basket by Jones at the buzzer. In the extra session, Sterling Brown took over and scored eight of his 13 points to seal with win.

Oturu scored 24 points, Micic added 19 points and Jones scored 16 points in the defeat as Payne dropped 19 points, Lakic put in 15 points and Fernando scored 14 points in the win.