Hapoel Tel Aviv downed ASVEL Villeurbanne 87-80 as the reds mounted a fourth quarter comeback by going on a 21-3 run to close out the game. Jonathan Motley, Dan Oturu and Tyler Ennis all had the hot hand for Hapoel Tel Aviv to open up the game while Nando De Colo and Glynn Watson responded however, the reds headed into halftime holding a 49-41 lead.

Oturu and Antonio Blakeney kept the reds in front as the second half got underway, but De Colo kept piling in the points, Bastein Vautier, Mbaye Ndiaye and Bodian Massa also scored to move in front of Dimitrios Itoudis’s team. But Blakeney kept scoring to put Hapoel back infield front while Ish Wainright also went from deep and Colin Malcolm found points to close out the win.

“ASVEL had a great game and they are well coached,” Itoudis began. “We were up and thought it was going to be easy and we stopped playing on both ends. We started thinking about individual things and things beyond basketball. When we were down 11, 77-66 with six minutes left we had the courage, trust and right responsibility as we went small ball to defend and score to get the win. To run 21-3 in the last six minutes it shows the potential that we have. I want to thank all of the teams who voted positively for having the games going back in Israel.”

ASVEL bench boss Pierric Poupet commented on the loss, “We did our best and I am proud of the guys, it’s sad that after a huge effort like this we lost. We fought with great energy so I am proud about this.”

The game MVP Dan Oturu spoke about the victory, “ASVEL’s record doesn’t tell the full story for this team as they compete every night. They have some great players in Nando De Colo and it was a tough game but we were able to stick with it and battle it out for the tight win. We stuck with it and we were down 11 points with minutes left but it’s an eternity. You have to play and focus for a full 40 minutes.”