Madar, Motley, Foster combine for 23 of final 27 points for Tel Aviv
Experience helped down the stretch as Hapoel rallied into quarters
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Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv’s big game experience on its roster shined through when it was needed most as the Israeli side fought back from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to lock up a spot in the BKT EuroCup quarterfinals.
The trio of Yam Madar, Johnathan Motley and Marcus Foster combined for 23 of Hapoel's final 27 points in a 90-97 victory at ratiopharm Ulm for its sixth win in the last seven games and a 12-6 record in Group A.
“For this game, especially the second half and the final quarter, the stats don’t matter much. It’s the heart and the belief. We talked about more heart in the halftime. We realized we needed to play better. And we defended great,” Hapoel head coach Dimitris Itoudis said. “That was a tough game to go through and that will help our character for sure.”
Hapoel trailed 80-70 with 8 minutes to go when Madar scored 9 points, Motley 8 points and Foster knocked down a pair of three-pointers in a 10-27 close to the game.
“They are a hard team. They play fast. They play physical. They deny everything They hit the boards. It’s always tough when you play against anybody with a good coach. We’re just glad we came out here and got the win and do what we were supposed to do,” said Motley, who led the way with 24 points.
Madar finished with 18 points including the dagger three-pointer to make it 90-95 with 37 seconds left. And Foster also had 18 points.
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All three of those players have the advantage of falling back on EuroLeague experience. Madar has appeared in 73 EuroLeague games - including 4 this season with FC Bayern Munich before coming to Hapoel. Motley got into 72 EuroLeague games the last two seasons with Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. And Foster played 20 games with Panathinaikos Athens in 2020-21.
“We have a lot of guys with experience. We have a great EuroLeague coach. So that definitely helped us in the end,” added Motley, referring to Itoudis, who won two EuroLeague titles among his more than eight seasons in the league. “We were down but we weren’t really phased. We knew we had to take those ups and downs and pull through in the end.”
That is how experience in important games can help you.