Real Madrid dominated Hapoel Tel Aviv 92-83 as the Reds were a step behind from the get go in the loss that saw their Euroleague record drop to 20-12 but remain in a playoff spot. Facundo Campazzo, Gabriel Deck and Theo Maledon scored for Real Madrid early on while Elijah Bryant, Dan Oturu and Chris Jones responded for Hapoel Tel Aviv, but points from Mario Hezonja gave the hosts a 45-35 lead at halftime.

Vasilije Micic, Jones, Oturu and Bryant tried to cut into the lead, but Hezonja kept scoring while Trey Lyles along with Maledon continued to find the bottom of the basket as Real wrapped up the win. Hezonja scored 15 points, Maledon added 13 points and Lyes put in 12 points in the win while Jones scored 15 points and Bryant chipped in with 13 points in the loss.

Next up for the reds is a clash at Baskonia on Friday night in a game that will also be played behind closed doors due to Spain’s security concern for Israeli teams.

Hapoel Head Coach Dimitris Itoudis summed up the game, “From the start, we weren’t in the mindset of getting stops. Real Madrid has a lot of quality. We didn’t try to do anything to take them out of their comfort zone and we paid the price. Unfortunately, even though we analyzed a plan to apply a lot of pressure on their ball handlers, it turned out the opposite. We weren’t in the right defensive mindset; we gave them too much space to operate. Our approach on the defensive end was bad and in the end we didn’t deserve to win as they were better.”

Kessler Edwards reflected on the loss, “It was a tough game, we really wanted to come in and win. The good part is that we have a chance to finish this week with a victory on Friday. It’s very important that we stay connected and I’m looking forward to finishing this season strong.”

Levi Randolph added, “It was a tough game, defensively. We knew who we were up against, a very good team. We’ll need to keep playing hard, keep learning, keep improving. We move on to the next game because we already have another one on Friday.”