Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem each won their first games in the EuroCup while Hapoel Holon and Maccabi Ramat Gan both fell in their opening Basketball Champions League clashes in a busy European basketball evening.

Hapoel Tel Aviv downed Wolves 89-84 to pick up their first victory to even their record at 1-1 early on in the season. The Reds grabbed a 53-41 lead at halftime but the Lithuanians came storming back in the third quarter to tie the game up at 69-69 after thirty minutes of action. However, Patrick Beverley took the bull by the horns in the final frame to help Stefanos Dedas’s squad pick up the win.

Johnathan Motley scored 16 points while Beverley and Tomer Ginat both scored 14 points in the victory. Tre’Shawn Thurman scored 29 points in the loss.

“For most of the parts, we were better,” said Hapoel head coach Stefanos Dedas in the post-game press conference. “But in the last minutes of the third quarter and in the beginning of the fourth, Wolves took momentum… We didn’t play with a clear mind, we played with big, big pressure when we started losing the momentum… We were afraid to shoot the ball when open, but I took a timeout and explained to them that it was just to enjoy, play basketball… in some moments pressure comes too much to our heads.”

“Very good team, tough team, they lost a couple, I think they were without one of their main players so we were fortunate tonight,” Beverley said after the game. “This team that we put together – we’re going to get everyone’s best punch, everyone is going to play us real hard and strong because of the names that we have on the team. No game is easy, there is no such thing as an ugly win or a pretty win, it’s only wins or losses, and we were very fortunate to get the win today.

The guard added, “Samokov has been a pleasure. We came here for training camp, getting off the bus kids are running up to you, want autographs, they know basketball really-really well here, I think one of the kids said he follows my podcast. Just the culture of basketball, the people here, it’s been love, the hotel we stayed in has been nice, the food here is great, so we’re very fortunate for Bulgaria and Samokov to host us and play here. We appreciate the support. Long season, please everyone come out and show support, we’re definitely going to put on a show.”

Hapoel Jerusalem cruised by Lietkabelis 94-74 to record their first win of the young season. The Lithuanians jumped out to a 25-18 lead after the opening frame but the capital city reds came storming back to take the advantage by halftime thanks to solid play from Yovel Zoosman as Jerusalem never looked back to take the win.

Jared Harper scored 23 points, Zoosman added 20 points and Justin Smith scored 15 points in the victory. Dovis Bickauskis scored 13 points while Georgics Kalatzakis and Oleksandr Kevlar each scored 12 points in the loss.

“We got into trouble because of a offensive problem,” Head Coach Yonatan Alon began. “But we found a way to win and the players played the right way and that’s the most important thing. Jared Harper? He is one of the players on the team, there are those who need to score and there are those who need to defend and there are those who need to be vocal and help us. The most important thing for us is that we won as a team and especially today with the situation in Israel, we send all our love to our families and all of Israel and I hope we were able to at least put a small smile on our fans’ faces.”

The coach added about the situation in Israel, “We hear the voices from the country and it is very difficult, we want to strengthen our people and our fans, I hope that everything will be behind us as soon as possible. It’s never easy to play in such a situation, I tried to disconnect and focus on basketball but once the game ends then the we think about the reality important things.”

Yuval Zoosman, who excelled with 20 points from the bench, added, “The heart is at home, at halftime and at the end of the game we heard the news and it’s not an easy situation. I am happy that the damage was relatively small and that the people are fine. I hope the situation will be better for us, we are happy with the victory, but at the end of the day my heart is at home,”

Maccabi Ramat Gan fell to AEK Athens 80-71 in their continental debut as the Greek squad won each quarter of the game to take the victory. Kendale McCullum scored 21 points, Amin Stevens added 18 points and Roberto Gallant dropped in with 11 points in the loss while Prentiss Hubb scored 28 points, Hunter Hale chipped in with 14 points and Grant Golden scored 15 points in the win.

“We feel a sense of failure,” Ramat Gan head coach Shmulik Breener began. “I think that in many aspects we were in the game – in terms of the game plan, the defensive points we wanted to be good at. Offensively we had to be much sharper. There were many good shots that we missed and unfortunately to get here to AEK Athens, to a very, very difficult court and to score 4 of 25 for three and still be in the game just a few minutes before the end is not easy. We will learn from this game, this is just our start in the BCL and we are encouraged by the rest.”

Roy Huber also spoke about the game that was, “It’s very exciting to begin the European season, but the situation in the country can’t be ignored and we tried as much as possible to concentrate on basketball. First of all we hope that all of our soldiers and hostages return home safely. As for the game, we played against a very good team but I think that most of the game we were balanced although our shooting percentage wasn’t as good as it could have been. It could be from the excitement of starting the season. I am sure that in the future we will be better and we will be able to do come great things in Europe as well.”

Hapoel Holon came up short to Wurzburg 85-76 as the purples went down early and were never really able to climb out of the hole in the loss. Marcis Bingham scored 19 points while Iftach Ziv and Mitrou-Long each scored 12 points in the loss. Zac Seljass scored 23 point and Mike Davis Jr. added 20 points in the win.

“When you lose 3 quarters and go down 12-3 at the start, Wurzburg sent a message,” Purples head coach Guy Goodes said. “I don’t know where our heads were and we had to chase the opponent. We gave 48 points by halftime and while we made a nice run in the third quarter, we fell on a number of points. we had to be more focussed.”

Elijah Mitrou-Long spoke about the defeat, “I don’t think we did what we needed to do and we are not satisfied. We will watch film, we made a lot of errors and it falls on the players. We are not happy about this, we are a good team and we have to prove that,”