Hapoel Tel Aviv downed Milano 92-86 as Elijah Bryant, Vasilije Micic and Dan Oturu all helped the reds snap their five game winless streak with the home victory at Yad Eliyahu. The win improved Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad’s Euroleague record to 17-11 and kept them in a playoff spot.

Bryant, Oturu along with Micic and Colin Malcolm came out of the gate red hot but Zach LeDay, Josh Nebo and Armoni Brooks countered as the reds headed into halftime with a slim 49-47 lead. Leandro Bolmaro began to find the basket as LeDay kept scoring at will but Bryant kept pouring in the points as did Micic to help Hapoel halt their five game winless skid. Bryant scored 25 points, Micic added 18 points and Oturu put in 16 points in the win while LeDay scored 22 points, Nebo chipped in with 18 points and LeDay scored 14 points in the loss.

“We were in control of the game from the beginning through the end,” Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis began. “We had some significant lapses on the defensive end in the last five minutes in the second quarter where we gave up 23 points which was too much. LeDay hurt us and hit some amazing shots, but we changed our defense no limited their guards which is what we did.”

Dan Oturu reflected on the win, “We played well and we won the game and we just got to keep the positive mindset and just keep going. The crowd was great and the atmosphere was awesome. I’m happy the fans turned out and I’m happy that we won for them.“

Tai Odiase also spoke about finally breaking the winless skid while looking ahead, “We had been on a little bit of a losing streak, a little losing spell. But we just stayed down, we stayed working in practice, working on our defense and offensive points and we got the win. Milano is a good team and we really watched a lot of film this week and was pretty confident going into the game that we would get the win.”

Zach LeDay got Milano on the board to start the game while Elijah Bryant, Vasilije Micic and Dan Oturu all responded for Hapoel, Josh Nebo came back with points, but Jonathan Motley and Colin Malcolm scored to give the reds a 29-19 lead after ten minutes of play. Armoni Brooks started to find the basket, Chris Jones and Micic scored at the other end but LeDay and Shavon Shields cut down the lead to 49-47 at halftime.

Nebo scored with ease to begin the second half, LeDay went from deep, Leandro Bolmaro also scored to give Milano the lead, but Oturu, Micic and Malcolm countered, while Tai Odiase put in a 3-point play and Bryant scored to give Dimitrios Itoudis’s team a 73-64 lead after thirty minutes. Bryant put in points to start the final frame, LeDay went from downtown, Bolmaro and Jones traded baskets, but Bryant kept scoring to chalk up the win.