Hapoel Tel Aviv just came up short 85-83 at Gran Canaria as AJ Slaughter drilled home a game winning triple to take the dramatic EuroCup home win. The loss dropped the Reds record down to 3-2 as they will will look to get back onto the winning track with a home Israeli league game against Hapoel Galil Elyon on Saturday night and a clash at the Drive In versus Buducnost on Tuesday.

Gran Canaria took the game right to Hapoel Tel Aviv as they grabbed an early double digit lead but fine play by Xavier Munford and Jordan McRae cut the advantage down to 26-24 after ten minutes of play. John Shurna and AJ Slaughter continued to score for the hosts as Jake Lakovic’s team bumped the lead up to 52-45 by halftime.

Munford and McRae kept scoring for Danny Franco’s squad and by the end of the third quarter they had cut the lead to 63-60 with ten minutes left in the game. J’Covan Brown took control of the game to start the fourth quarter as he scored at will to give the Reds a 83-75 lead with under four minutes remaining in regulation time. But Gran Canaria went on a 10-0 run that saw AJ Slaughter go from deep with 4 seconds left to win the game.

Munford led the way with 24 points, McRae added 17 points and Brown dropped 15 points in the defeat. Shurna paced the hosts with 18 points, Damen Inglis scored 14 points and Slaughter added 12 points in the victory.

“It took us time to adjust to the Spanish tempo in the first half,” Franco began. “We had a much better defensive effort in the second half. it’s an unfortunate loss but we showed that we can compete on the road against a team like Gran Canaria.”

“It came down to the last shot,” Lakovic said. “We didn’t play well in the second half but with the defensive mindset we had a chance for the win and AJ made the shot and they missed. We are happy.”

Hapoel captain Tomer Ginat reflected on the game, “I’m proud of our performance against one of the best teams in the Spanish league and the EuroCup. The final result is disappointing and we have to learn from the last minutes in order to win games at this level in the future.”

Slaughter spoke about the contest that was, “It was a helluva game and they came here to play us tough, but we have to give our team credit for how we didn’t give up and we won it at the end.”

Hapoel Holon fell to Galatasaray 88-75 in Champions League action as the Turkish squad dominated the fourth quarter to not only take over first place but also now have the point differential should a tie breaker be necessary. Guy Goodes’s squad who are now 3-1 needed to either win or lose by up to 9 points in order to hold on to the tie breaker over Andreas Pistiolis’s team which also feature at 3-1 but are in the group’s top spot.

However, Holon was unable to accomplish either as they are now in the precarious position of having to participate in the Play In Playoff for a place in the Round of 16 Group Stage instead of directly advancing with a first place finish. Each team have two game remaining in group stage play.

Galatasaray got off to a good start as Dylan Ennis had the hot hand with 18 first half points while Erick Green scored 12 points for Holon but the hosts took a 45-39 lead into halftime. Marvin Jones and Frederic Bourdillon kept Goodes’s club close as they narrowed the gap down to just 1-point, 60-59 after thirty minutes of play but Angelo Caloiaro and Sadik Kabaca scored at will in the final frame while Ennis kept finding points gave Pistiolis’s squad the win.

Erick Green led the purples with 15 points, Marvin Jones added 13 points and Chris Johnson chipped in with 12 points in the loss. Dylan Ennis was the game’s high scorer with 24 points, Angelo Caloairo scored 18 points and Sadik Kabaca added 17 points in the win.

“We didn’t do the job which was to first win the game and second was to lose by under 9 points for a chance to be in first place,” a disappointed Goodes said. “The main problem was that they scored 28 points in teh second and fourth quarters. The first and third quarters were good for us as we executed but unfortunately the game went to Galatasaray.”

“This was a very important win for us against a very good opponent,” Pistiolis said. “Right from the draw we know that they were going to be our main rival for first place. It’s still a long way to go but we now have the point differential. Our goal was to outlast our opponent and that is what we did.”

Holon’s Frederic Bourdillon who scored 11 points reflected on the loss, “We lost the point advantage and its a big disappointment but we have two more games. We couldn’t stop their 3-pointers and offensive rebounding. We had to be better in defense.”

Former Maccabi Tel Aviv forward Angelo Caloairo who is now playing for Galatasaray also spoke about the game that was, “We were up and down a bit and had holes in our offense and defense. We have to work on being more consistent and we have to play hard and within what we do as a team. We beat a good team and we got better, but it’s a long season and we want to continue to get better.”

Hapoel Haifa punched their ticket to the second round of the FIBA Europe Cup competition with a 77-70 home victory over OCS Swans Gmunden. The Carmel Reds jumped out to a 27-21 lead after the first quarter and never looked back to take the victory and five of head coach Sharon Drucker’s players finished the game in double digits. The win moved Haifa into first place in their group with a 4-1 record with one game remaining.

Devonte Upson led the way with a 15 point and 15 rebound double-double, Kadeem Allen added 15 points, while Amit Simhon chipped in with 12 points, Anthony Hickey with 10 points and 8 assists along with 10 points from Will Rayman in the win. Urald King paced the visitors with 22 points in the loss.

Hapoel Galil Elyon came up short 95-78 at Bamberg in FIBA Europe Cup action. With the Germans ahead by only a pair of points 69-67 after thirty minutes of play, Bamberg’s Israeli coach Oren Amiel along with his Sabra big man Gaby Chachashvili came through with a big fourth quarter to take the win and send Barak Peleg’s team back to Israel with the loss. Galil Elyon is in second place in Group A tied with two other teams with the identical record.

Jalen Hudson paced the visitors with 18 points, Deishuan Booker added 17 points and Bryce Washington scored 13 points in the defeat. Christian Sengfelder scored 21 points, Patrick Miller chipped in with 18 points and Chachashvili scored 16 points in the victory.