Hapoel Tel Aviv took the tough win over Maccabi Ramat Gan 91-82 as Jonathan Motley mastered the paint while Joe Ragland controlled the pace of play in the second half to help the reds to the win.

Motley and Ragland tag teamed Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad to an early lead but a red hot Roberto Gallinat and Amin Stevens kept the hosts in the game but Antonio Blakeney and Bar Timor spurred the visitors to a 22-5 run to take a 49-39 halftime advantage. Gallinat and Kendale McCullum stated to cut the lead down in third period, but Blakeney and Ragland kept the lead in double digits as Motley polished the game off with crucial baskets in the final frame to wrap up the victory.

Motley scored 21 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and handed out 5 assists, Blakeney added 17 points while Ragland scored 13 point and dished out 7 helpers in the win. Gallinat scored 24 points, Stevens put in 21 points and McCullum scored 16 points in the loss.

“We started the game very sloppy on the defensive end and we weren’t consistent as to what we wanted to do,” Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis said. “We had to put intensity on the defensive end. Ramat Gan deserves respect as to how they have played in Europe and in the IsraelI league and we allowed them to drive, kick out, pass and score. After the timeout when they we leading 34-27 we decided to play better defense and used our hands to deflect passes. We had a run of 22-5 to close out the first half. We are on a good track although we have some injuries but we are here and improving.”

“We played a mediocre game and we couldn’t beat Hapoel Tel Aviv,” Ramat Gan Head Coach Shmulik Brenner began. “We just weren’t good enough and we were a bit short against their aggressiveness. We only hit five 3-pointers from deep and that didn’t help either. Every time we got close they hit a big baskets. Blakeney hit a number of important buckets and that was that.”

Bar Timor reflected on the win, “We knew that they are a good team and it was an important game for us as well as a tough road game. But we were able to get things rolling in the second quarter and were able to create a bit of a gap. It’s tough to kill every game and they didn’t give up and sometimes you just can’t finish a game off the way we would have liked too.”

Roberto Gallinat looked back at the loss, “They are a tough team and they are number one in the league. We tried to play our game, we missed a few shots and hopefully we can regroup for the next game. We had open 3’s and a lot didn’t fall in the first half, if we had hit some of them perhaps we would have been in better shape.”

Jonathan Motley and Joe Ragland got busy for Hapoel Tel Aviv early on, Kendale McCullum and Amin Stevens countered for Maccabi Ramat Gan, Bruno Caboclo and Marcus Foster scored from the outside and inside for the Reds while Roberto Gallinat and Stevens came back with points for the hosts to keep the score all knotted up at 23-23 after the opening quarter.
Gallinat scored 9 straight points for Shmulik Brenner’s team to begin the second quarter, Antonio Blakeney and Bar Timor each scored a pair of baskets, Motley dunked while Blakeney and Timor kept finding points to give Dimitrios Itoudis’s team a 49-39 advantage at halftime.

Gallinat started off the third quarter by posterizing Tomer Ginat while McCullum and Stevens cut into the Hapoel lead, Blakeney dialled up from long distance and Motley scored, McCullum went from deep as did Ragland and Blakeney to bump the reds leads up to 73-62 after thirty minutes of action.

Ginat and Ragland scored to get the final frame underway while the latter then went into the paint for a reverse layup, Stevens scored on the inside, Isaiah Miles and Roi Huber added points from the outside, Motley hit a jumper and then added a 3-point play to wrap up the win.