Hapoel Holon downed Galatasaray 98-89 as Chris Johnson starred in the Basketball Champions League win to move Guy Goodes’s squad to 2-1 after three games in the Round of 16 group stage.

Galatasaray grabbed a slim 46-43 lead at halftime as Dee Bost scored 3-pointers aplenty while Melo Trimble and Devaughn Akoon-Purcell added points as well as Chris Johnson, Adam Smith and Michale Kyser kept Guy Goodes’s squad close but down by three at halftime. Johnson stepped up his play in the second half as did Tyrus McGee and Joe Ragland as the hosts kept Bost and company at bay to take the 9-point victory.

The two teams will face one another on Thursday evening in Turkey as Holon who will be playing without Tyrus McGee due to the fact the game was rescheduled from an earlier date when the guard was not yet with the team. A win will help the purples move closer to clinching a place in the Top 8.

Johnson led the way with 26 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, Tyrus McGee added 17 points and Michale Kyser scored 16 points for Holon. Dee Bost scored 21 points, David Kravish chipped in with 15 points and Kerry Blackshear scored 14 points in the loss.

“We made the plays, fought hard and hit our 3-pointers,” Goodes said after the win. “When you hit your shots that is what happens and we did so in high percentages. We wanted to keep the biggest point differential we could and we made sure to win here at home. We have to stop their 3-pointers because they scored them in very high percentages.”

“I am happy for the great game at home and we know that if we want to make it to the Top 8 we had to win at home. Galatasaray is a great team and we knew they had firepower from the outside as they scored 15 3-pointers. We came more focussed in the second half, scored 54 points and we opened a small gap and won but Thursday is a different game.”

“We knew we needed stop Chris Johnson and Tyrus McGee,” Galatasaray coach Ekrem Memnun said. “We tried to stop them but couldn’t. Many games we had double digit leads and then we get soft, made simple mistakes and lose focus. We will watch the game and see how we will continue.”

The game MVP Chris Johnson reflected on the win, “We had to be aggressive and the win was huge. We have to take it one game at a time. We played hard and took more shots and we stayed with that. We will watch film and see what we messed up and go from there.”

Guy Pnini also shared his thoughts on the win, “It took us some time to get into the game and they started really well offensively. They took us out of our game as they hit 3’s but we made adjustments and they worked. Giving up 89 points is a lot but we beat a very talented team.”