Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Milano 105-83 as the reds used a 12-0 run to begin the third quarter to pull away from the hosts for good and record the victory. Dan Oturu was extremely effective in the paint to help Dimitrios Itoudis’s team to a dominant 31/43 from the inside while Antonio Blakeney and Elijah Bryant shot well as Hapoel went 10/22 from deep to take the win and build on their record to 9-3 on Euroleague play.

Oturu and Antonio Blakeney paced Hapoel with 20 points apiece while Elijah Bryant chipped in with 18 points in the victory. Leandro Bolmaro led Milan with 16 points and Quinn Ellis netted 15 points in the loss.

“Congratulations to my team. We knew we had to change our mindset defensively in the third quarter and we did it immediately,” Itoudis said. “It was a team effort as we made some great stops and whoever came off the bench or in the starting lineup was giving something. Basketball requires a plan at both ends and you can’t disconnect one from the other.”

Dan Oturu spoke about the keys to the win, “In the third quarter, we used our defense to fuel other parts of our game. Great second half team effort and I’m just happy we won the game. I am here to go out and compete and help my team win. We came here on a four-game winning streak and needed to bring our best performance, so we’ll just try to rack up the wins as we go along.”

“We had 8 turnovers in the first half so we limited those and as they packed the paint, we were able to make better decisions and get the win,” Bryant said. “If you look down the league, teams that get the most rebounds usually win and I’m pretty sure that we won the rebounding battle tonight. We have a lot of talent on our team, tonight it was Dan (Oturu) who did the job for us, but we’ve got plenty of players who can play both offense and defense.”

In Champions League action, Hapoel Holon fell to Badalona 97-95 in overtime on the road as their record slipped to 2-3 in group stage play. The purples and the Barcelona based club played neck and neck, but just as it looked that all was lost for Danny Franco’s team, Lior Carreira hit a pair of massive triple to send the game into the extra session. However, the shot would go for not as the hosts found a way to take the win in overtime.