Bnei Herzliya were overwhelmed 83-63 at Tenerife as the hosts jumped out to a quick 34-14 lead after ten minutes of play and never looked back. Oren Aharoni’s squad had trouble all game long containing the trio of Marcelinho Huertas (16 points and 9 assists) who orchestrated the offense, Sasu Salin (12 points on four 3-pointers) who was unstoppable from beyond the arc and Giorgi Shermadini’s (18 points and 7 rebounds) inside presence as the Canary Islands team cruised to the victory. Maurice Kemp led the Israeli side with 15 points and Chris Babb scored 14 points in the loss. Herzliya are now 1-3 with two games remaining in Basketball Champions League group play.

“We played against one of the best teams in Europe not just the Champions League and we have a lot of respect for them,” Aharoni said. “We were not there at all in the courts half both offensively and defensively. In the second half we showed what we are capable of but they deserved this win, shooting well from the outside.”

“We had a very good start to the game and we were focussed on defense,” Tenerife coach Txus Vidoretta. “We had great contributions from Huertas and Salin from the outside shooting and we were able to take a 25 point advantage at halftime. They came back in the second half but we recorded the win as we continue on in he competition.”

Hapoel Haifa wrapped up first place in their FIBA Europe Cup group with a 75-64 win over Antwerp. The Carmel Reds finish the group stage with a 5-1 record as they will now prepare for the second round of play. Sharon Drucker’s squad started off slowly, spotting the Belgium team with a 23-13 lead but Spencer Weisz, Will Rayman and Amit Simhon all played an integral role in helping Haifa take a 36-35 advantage into halftime. From there, Kadeem Allen got hot and helped his squad take the 11-point win. Allen led all scorers with 18 points while Simhon added 14 points in the win while Royce Hamm with 16 points paced Antwerp.

Nes Ziona began their continental season with a 92-76 loss to BM Stal in the European North Basketball League. The Polish squad put the pedal to the metal over the course of the first half to take a 53-42 lead after twenty minutes of play. While Elad Hasin’s team cut the lead down to just 7-points after three quarters, it wasn’t going to be enough to find a way to take the victory. Tyler Bey paced the Israeli squad with 28 points while Shaq Buchanan added 11 points in the loss. Jakub Garbacz and Nemanja Djurisic each scored 17 points in the win. Next up for Nes Ziona is a date with Trefl Sopot on Thursday.