Hapoel Holon downed Kiryat Ata 87-72 as the purples will look to take the positive momentum into this week’s Basketball Champions League Play In series against Petkimspor on Tuesday in Azerbaijan. Liam O’Reilly scored in bunches while Chris Smith found points as well for the visitors while Iftach Ziv and Dakarai Tucker countered for the hosts to send the game into halftime tied at 44-44.

O’Reilly kept scoring while Silvio De Sousa controlled the paint, but Tucker and Ziv did the same while Netanel Artzi, Elijah Mitrou-Long and Mike Davis Jr. also put the ball in the hoop to polish off the victory.

Ziv scored 15 points and added 8 assists, Hanochi scored 12 points and Davis Jr. put in 11 points in the win. O’Reilly and De Sousa each scored 20 points a piece while Smith added 13 points in the loss.

“There are no easy games in this league and we see that every week,” Holon Head Coach Guy Goodes said. “There are games where we have to come in and do the job but also split up the minutes. Everyone needs to do their best in order to win the games that we have coming up in the BCL and then versus Galil Elyon later in the week. In this game we locked down on defense in the second half and held them to just 29 points. Jalen Adams is back after a month and that was very helpful plus we ended up winning by 15 points and a win is a win so we are very happy about that. We can now move ahead and the guys will do the best that they can, we will give it our all.”

“We started the game well,” Kiryat Ata Head Coach Eldad Bentov said. “We didn’t allow Holon to run and do some things that they like to do, but when you commit 23 turnovers it’s very hard to beat any team. We are really missing Raz Adam and Chavaughn Lewis who as guards can create and they aren’t here. We ended up just being exhausted by the end of the game.”

Yotam Hanochi looked back at the win, “The first half we were a bit slow and didn’t do the things we needed to as they scored points in the paint, but we corrected that as we went into the second half. We have some big games coming up and we have to really be ready to play tough.”

Liam O’Reilly reflected on the game that was, “We turned the ball over way too many times with 23 and that hurt us as it let them play transition offense. We fought for half the game maybe a bit more but we didn’t have enough down the stretch.”

Liam O’Reilly went from deep while Chris Smith found points on the inside for Kiryat Ata, but Iftach Ziv scored at will as did Mike Davis Jr. who ended the first quarter with a triple to give Hapoel Holon a slim 22-21 lead after ten minutes of play. Silvio De Sousa found points in the paint, Yotam Hanochi responded on the inside and outside, Dakarai Tucker scored a pair of baskets, while Jalen Adams and Yuval Sznajderman traded buckets as did Idan Zalmanson and O’Reilly as the score was all knotted up at 44-44 at halftime.

O’Reilly continued his hot shooting, Tucker and Ziv continued to score, De Sousa kept Eldad Bentov’s team close, Karam Mashour also added points but Hanochi’s corner 3-ball and Elijah Mitrou-Long’s triple at the buzzer put Guy Goodes’s team in front 71-63 after thirty minutes of action. O’Reilly led off the final frame from deep, Artzi did the same at the other end, Mitrou-Long put in a pair of baskets, Ziv and Davis Jr. scored as well to wrap up the victory.

Nes Ziona dropped Elitzur Netanya 91-72 as Bryce Brown starred for the hosts to move them closer to a spot in the State Cup competition. Bryce Brown had the hot hand for Nes Ziona early on as the hosts jumped out to a double digit lead, but Bryce Washington and Itay Moskovitz pulled the visitors to within a couple of points in the second quarter, however, big buckets from Itay Segev helped Amit Sherf’s team head into halftime holding a 42-35 advantage.

Kyler Edwards tried to keep Idan Avashalom’s team close but Darnell Edge, Tzuf Ben Moshe and an unstoppable Brown kept piling in the points to close out the win. Brown scored 30 points, Edge added 17 points and Ben Moshe chipped in with 13 points in the victory while Edwards scored 20 points and Washington scored 18 points in the loss.

Bnei Herzliya got by Hapoel Gilboa Galil 88-83 as John Meeks out-dueled Gur Lavie to help Yehu Orland’s squad get back onto the winning track. Sharon Avrahami’s squad got off to a hot start as Lavie, Ben Moore and Ish El-Amin paced the visitors to a 50-40 lead at halftime. However, Meeks, Ethan Burg and Xavier Sneed all pushed hard over the course of the second half to take the lead and the win. Meeks scored 27 points, Sneed added 21 points and Burg put in 14 points in the victory. Lavie scored 28 points, Moore put in 15 points and El-Amin scored 12 points in the loss.