Hapoel Holon downed Brindisi 84-80 to end Champions League Group G play with a 4-2 record good for second place and home court advantage in the Play In best of 3 series for a spot in the Round of 16 Group Stage. Maurizio Buscaglia’s squad jumped all over the Italian club and took a commanding 30-16 lead after ten minutes of action with Joe Ragland and Chris Johnson leading the way. However, Brindisi chipped away that the lead thanks to Mattia Udom and Nick Perkins but Rafi Menco and Guy Pnini came up clutch to seal the deal.

Holon will now ready for Besiktas in a best of three series which will begin in january after finishing the group stage in second place due to Cluj defeating Darussafaka 103-101 in Turkey after mounting a 17 point comeback with 6:35 left in the game.

Ragland led the way with 19 points and 8 assists, Menco added 19 points while Johnson checked in with a 16 point/12 rebound double-double. Perkins scored 16 points and Mattia added 15 points and 10 boards in the loss.

“It was a really tough game and I liked our impact,” Buscaglia said. “We did a good comeback at the end of the first half and the war started. They had to win and it was tight and we struggled a bit but we had good personality and I liked the mentality of the team. We will need to win one game at home and one game on the road.”

Rafi Menco also commented on the game, “It was a good performance by our team and we were very pleased and executed well. We were able to come back and I am happy about the win. We are content to finish second because we knew it could be worse. We are frustrated about the Cluj and Darussafaka game but it was out of our control. Now we have to look forward.”