Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv dominated Promitheas Patras in the paint early and often en route to a 108-69 victory on Tuesday night at Shlomo Group Arena in the northern side of Tel Aviv. The victory came roughly an hour after another Tel Aviv team finished its own record-breaking performance in the southern part of the city in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.

Hapoel dominated the paint to finish the regular season on a high note

Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv dominated Promitheas Patras in the paint early and often en route to [a 108-69 victory](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/eurocup/game-center/2022-23/hapoel-vegan-friendly-tel-aviv-promitheas-patras/U2022/179/) on Tuesday night at Shlomo Group Arena in the northern side of Tel Aviv. The victory came roughly an hour after another Tel Aviv team finished its own record-breaking performance in the southern part of the city in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.

Both Hapoel and its crosstown rival Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv started red-hot and set halftime records for points scored. While Maccabi went for 62 halftime points and set a EuroLeague record with 38 assists in a 111-80 thrashing of Virtus Segafredo Bologna, Hapoel had 59 first-half points and did its most impressive work in the paint.

Coach Danny Franco’s men outrebounded Promitheas 44-17. Even more impressive is that Hapoel cashed in on nearly all of its offensive rebounds. The team collected 11 of its misses and scored 24 second-chance points. In contrast, Promitheas was limited to 4 offensive rebounds and 2 second-chance points. 

In the first half alone, Hapoel shot 23 for 29 (79.3%) on two-pointers and dished 16 assists alongside 3 turnovers. The pace slowed a little in the second half, but Hapoel still shot 14 for 18 (77.8%) on twos and dished 14 assists, though it committed 11 second-half turnovers. Its 37 two-pointers were the most by any team in the EuroCup this season. 

"We knew it would be a physical game and we prepared ourselves mentally for their aggressiveness. We didn’t let it affect us. We controlled the rebounds. This was supposed to be a difficult and complicated game," Coach Franco said. 

Hapoel Tel Aviv Highlights vs. Promitheas Patras, 03/28/2023

The four Hapoel big men, centers Chinanu Onuaku and Idan Zalmanson and forwards Tomer Ginat and Jaylen Hoard, combined for even more ridiculous shooting numbers. Onuaku and Zalmanson did not miss at all from the field with the former making 7 shots and the latter 4. Ginat was 8 for 9 on two-pointers and Hoard 10 for 14. 

Combined, they had 65 points, 27 rebounds, 6 steals and 5 turnovers. The entire Proitheas team had 69 points, 17 rebounds and 7 steals. 

Hapoel's eighthfinals opponent will only be decided on Wednesday. It can finish either second or third in Group B, depending on Turk Telekom Ankara’s game. The standings in Group A are also far from settled. 

Regardless of the opponent, Hapoel’s win was a reminder to all of how dangerous it can be in the knockout stages. The Round 18 win again showed how lethal its frontline can be. The backcourt, with EuroCup assists leader J’Covan Brown, Xavier Munford and Jordan McRae, is also a force to be reckoned with. 

"We have a deep team, a lot of guys who can contribute from different places, so I think we are a balanced team, and I think we can go far," Hoard said after the game. "We have shown that we can score the ball but the main thing is locking in on defense to help the offense and stuff. When we get stops, we can get out, run, play fast and that is when we are at our best."

For fans of Israel basketball, the dominant efforts of Maccabi and Hapoel on Tuesday may be reminiscent of a special season 19 years ago. In 2004, while Maccabi was marching toward the Final Four in Tel Aviv, where it would smash the record books in beating Fortitudo Bologna 118-74 in the championship game, Hapoel Jerusalem was slaying giants in the EuroCup – then called the ULEB Cup. Its final win was against Real Madrid in the championship game in Charleroi, Belgium, to win the title. 

Franco isn't ready to think about such scenarios. He is remaining modest and taking things as they come. 

"Super proud of our guys and our club for making a great \[debut\] in the EuroCup competition, finishing up on a high note today in front of our fans, who are following us everywhere, home and away," commented Coach Franco.  

"I’m pleased that our fans and all the people who bought tickets in June and dreamed of the team received a 'good' Hapoel Tel Aviv both in the Israeli League and Europe. From here, every challenge will be more interesting… We're going to keep on dreaming, try to go as far as we can."

Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv v Promitheas Patras (2023-03-28T17:00:00.000Z)

The London Lions travelled to the French capital without star players Sam Dekker and Kosta Koufos, yet its trio of 33-year-old veterans – Jordan Taylor, Vojtech Hruban and Tomislav Zubcic – stepped up against Paris Basketball to lead the English team to a 85-96 victory.

London leaned on experience to get past Paris

The London Lions travelled to the French capital without star players Sam Dekker and Kosta Koufos, yet its trio of 33-year-old veterans – Jordan Taylor, Vojtech Hruban and Tomislav Zubcic – stepped up against Paris Basketball to lead the English team to an 85-96 victory.

 

As a result of this win, London ended its debut season in the 7DAYS EuroCup with an 8-10 record from its 18 regular-season games, and it also exacted a bit of revenge against Paris after losing 80-93 at Copper Box Arena just before the new year. Paris, meanwhile, concluded the regular season with a 10-8 record.

 

Neither London nor Paris could move from their current positions of seventh and fifth, respectively, in the standings, yet this game was a good opportunity to see where the two teams stood ahead of the postseason. After all, London was coming off back-to-back home defeats and Paris had lost two of its last three fixtures.

Tomislav Zubcic, Jordan Taylor and Vojtech Hruban combined for 51 points in the London Lions' 85-96 win at Paris Basketball.

London's experienced trio vs. Paris

In the early going, Taylor got London moving as he scored 11 of the team's first 15 points in the first quarter. Then, as the game developed, Hruban and Zubcic began to put their fingerprints on the contest. At halftime, for example, with Paris and London tied at 49-49, the trio of Taylor (11), Hruban (10) and Zubcic (8) had combined to score 29 points for the visitors. Combined, they had dished 9 of London's 14 first-half assists, too.

 

After the break, Zubcic began to take over. In the third quarter alone, he doubled his first-half scoring output and took his tally to 16 points. Taylor and Hruban only added 2 points apiece in that quarter, but the former dished another 3 assists to move to 7 assists in the game. Then, in the final quarter, Zubcic scored another 8 points, including a three-pointer at the buzzer to put the cherry on top of an 11-point win.

 

Zubcic finished with 24 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, while Taylor had 13 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists and 1 steal and Hruban amassed 14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals. London may have been without Dekker and Koufos in Paris, but Zubcic, Taylor and Hruban showed their experience with three solid displays, which is a good sign ahead of the playoffs.

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Paris Basketball v London Lions (2023-03-28T18:30:00.000Z)

Frutti Extra Bursaspor grabbed an important 86-76 home victory over Germani Brescia on Tuesday to get back to winning ways after losing its three previous games in the 7DAYS EuroCup. 

Bursaspor gained essential momentum ahead of playoffs

Frutti Extra Bursaspor grabbed an important 86-76 home victory over Germani Brescia on Tuesday to get back to winning ways after losing its three previous games in the 7DAYS EuroCup. This morale-boosting victory came at the perfect time for head coach Dusan Alimpijevic’s side in its bid to gain momentum ahead of the playoffs.

Onuralp Bitim was once again the player to inspire Bursaspor to victory. He scored 24 points, making 4 of 6 two-pointers (66.7%), 3 of 8 threes (37.5%) and nailing 7 of his 9 free-throw attempts (77.8%). Bitim, who currently sits as the competition’s fourth-best scorer (17.9 ppg.), also added 5 assists, 5 rebounds and a team-high 6 fouls drawn.

Yet, he was not the only player to step up in this much-needed victory for Bursaspor, as Derek Needham scored 18 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the perimeter, Anthony Clemmons had 17 and Dave Dudzinski managed his second double-double of the season, registering 15 points and 10 rebounds.

“It’s really tough to play after our confidence was shaken a little bit in the last couple of games,” Alimpijevic admitted after the game. “I truly believe that this team can still do something big and good. We need to show from which material this team is made. And I believe that we are made from the finest material.”

Bursaspor will find out its Round of 16 opponent on Wednesday. It could finish either sixth or eighth in Group A, depending on the result of the game between Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana and Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse. But its win against Brescia gave it something more than hope for better placement in the standings; it is also a reminder that this is the team that took many by surprise last season when it went all the way to the EuroCup final.

Frutti Extra Bursaspor v Germani Brescia (2023-03-28T17:00:00.000Z)

Ryan Schmidt, London: 'It's a good win to end the regular season'

### Ryan Schmidt, London Lions head coach

"Obviously, over a 40-minute game, there's going to be ebbs and flows throughout the game. I thought we did a good job. They made quite a run there to end the second quarter, and I thought we regrouped and did a good job in the locker room at halftime. We came out and played with a bit more poise, I thought we changed some things defensively, our pick and roll coverages. Again, even with Sam \[Dekker\] being out and not having Kosta \[Koufos\], it was nice to see different guys stepping up. I thought our contribution on the offensive side of the ball was well-balanced. I've always said it: when we can get the ball moving side to side, we've got guys that can knock down open shots in rhythm. It's just that sometimes we kind of have trouble doing that and we force the issue a little bit. Listen, that's a really good team, very talented, well coached. It's a good win to end the regular season. As a coach, you want to see a lot of the little things that you're doing better, because in a playoff game, in knockout competition, one game, win or go home, it's going to come down to those marginal things. We've really put a lens on that stuff. I don't have the stats' sheet in front of me, but offensive rebounding-wise, I thought we were much better tonight than we have been in the last couple of weeks. It's like our defense in the half court; I think we do a really good job of forcing teams into tough shots, but we were having trouble finishing those possessions those last couple of weeks and I thought we did a better job of that tonight."

 

### Will Weaver, Paris Basketball head coach

"It’s a funky game; both teams aren’t playing for anything in terms of seeding. We obviously have an important game on Friday in our domestic league \[so\] we needed to rest some guys to make sure that we were healthy and ready for that. It's never fun to be the responsible adult and look ahead, but tonight that was my job. Now we've got the opportunity to figure out who we're going to play \[in the playoffs\] later tonight and get our travel organized and try to go and get our first postseason international win."

 

### Tomislav Zubcic, London Lions forward

"It was definitely a tough match. We knew what awaited us, but since we had less bodies on the team, we tried to fight, we tried to contribute all over the floor. It was a good game for us. They gave a good effort, but we ended up getting the win. We have four guards on the court, plus me at the 5, so we knew that if we shared the ball, if we made our shots, that we'd win this game."

The London Lions closed the 2022-23 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season with a win after beating Paris Basketball 85-96 at Halle Georges Carpinter on Tuesday night. The first meeting between these two in England in December resulted in a Paris victory, but London got some revenge in the French capital this time around. Following this result, London ended the regular season with an 8-10 record, while Paris finished 10-8.

London exacts revenge against Paris, 85-96

The London Lions closed the 2022-23 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season with a win after beating Paris Basketball 85-96 at Halle Georges Carpinter on Tuesday night. The first meeting between these two in England in December resulted in a Paris victory, but London got some revenge in the French capital this time around. Following this result, London ended the regular season with an 8-10 record, while Paris finished 10-8.

 

Tomislav Zubcic led the way with 24 points for London, which was without star forward Sam Dekker and center Kosta Koufos due to injury. Luke Nelson added 17 points, Vojtech Hruban had 14 and Jordan Taylor paired 13 points with 8 assists. Paris, which could not call upon the injured Kyle Allman, was paced by Tyrone Wallace's 22 points. Juhann Begarin finished with 18 points, Aamir Simms tallied 14 and Ismael Kamagate recorded a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double in the defeat.

In a back-and-forth start to the game, London was the first team to exert some control on proceedings, as Taylor recorded an assist and scored 4 points to put the visitors ahead, 3-8. Paris responded through Begarin and Kamagate, 7-8, but an inspired Taylor stepped up in Dekker's absence to put London on the right track. Taylor struck from deep to take his personal tally to 11 points and knot the game at 15-15, then his steal and assist to Miye Oni saw London jump back in front, 15-17. A strong finish to the quarter resulted in London leading by 10, 19-29, after the first 10 minutes.

 

London appeared to have revenge on its mind and it did a good job of holding off Paris in the second quarter, as Nelson and Hruban stepped up with some important buckets, 23-36. Even as Paris mounted a charge, London found itself 13 points ahead, 34-47, after a triple by Hruban with 2:49. In the remainder of the half, however, Paris managed to go on a 15-2 run to make it a tied game at halftime, 49-49.

The momentum had swung totally in Paris's favor just before the break, but afterward, London did a good job of staying calm. Zubcic used his experience to nudge the visitors back in front, 49-51, but Begarin continued to cause problems for the London defense and scored 4 straight points to put Paris narrowly ahead, 57-56. Yet, a three-point play by Zubcic and a two-pointer by Taylor gave London another lead, 57-60, and the visitors closed the third quarter with a 66-74 advantage.

 

In the final quarter, Begarin and Wallace did their all to try and reverse the scoreline, but London's trio of Zubcic, Hruban and Nelson stepped up again, again and again, 77-86. Amar Gegic scored 5 points in a row to make it a 4-point ball game, 82-86, with four minutes left, but Josh Sharma, Zubcic and Aaron Best responded, 82-93. Whatever Paris had to throw at London, the visitors had an answer. And, to put the cherry on top of the cake for London, Zubcic nailed a walk-off triple to make it an 11-point win, 85-96.

Frutti Extra Bursaspor defeated Germani Brescia 86-76 at Tofas Spor Salonu on Tuesday to put an end to its three-game losing streak. Onuralp Bitim paced Bursaspor with 24 points, while Derek Needham finished with 18 and Dave Dudzinski recorded a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds. C. J. Massinburg led the losing team with 25 points.

Bursaspor ends losing streak, downs Brescia 86-76

Frutti Extra Bursaspor defeated Germani Brescia 86-76 at Tofas Spor Salonu on Tuesday to put an end to its three-game losing streak. The hosts dominated in the second and third quarter to secure a double-digit lead that they guarded until the end. Bursaspor improved to 8-10 and it is now tied with Brescia, who holds the H2H advantage after winning 110-74 at home in December. Both teams have secured a play-off spot and they will wait for the result of Wednesday’s duel between Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana and Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse to find out their respective eighthfinals opponents.

Onuralp Bitim paced Bursaspor with 24 points, while Derek Needham finished with 18 on 5-for-8 three-point shooting. Dave Dudzinski recorded a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, with Anthony Clemmons adding 17 points. C. J. Massinburg led the losing team with 25 points off the bench in less than 19 minutes. John Petrucelli added 15, Tommaso Laquintana had 13 and Tai Odiase scored 12.

Odiase scored all his team’s points, including an alley-oop dunk to open the game, as Brescia led 4-6. Bursaspor got back on top 15-11 Bitim nailed a three-pointer and 2 free throws. Nonetheless, Brescia made the most of Bitim's 2 turnovers and Laquintana beat the first-quarter buzzer for a 16-19 lead for the visitors. Dudzinski's 5 points in a row restored a 21-20 Bursaspor lead. The hosts held Brescia to just 7 points over 7 minutes to stretch the advantage to 38-28 after Clemmons and Omer Utku Al connected from behind the arc.

Bitim and Needham netted a three each after the break, while Brescia's scoring slump continued. After a timeout, the guests started to come into life, with Massinburg and Petrucelli filling an 8-0 run to cut the difference to 57-44. However, Bursaspor maintained a solid 68-54 cushion heading into the last quarter after scoring 28 points in third to set the basis for the victory.

Needham sank back-to-back triples in the opening stages of the fourth quarter, with Bursaspor being very much in control of the game. Whenever Brescia tried to bounce back and go on a run, the hosts found a way to end the visitors’ momentum and secure their sixth home win of the season.

 Onuralp Bitim, Bursaspor: 'The most important time is coming' 

### Frutti Extra Bursaspor head coach Dusan Alimpijevic

"It’s an important win for us and for the moment that we are in right now. Everything is in our hands. We will wait for tomorrow’s game \[between Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana and Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse\] and we will find out if we’ll finish sixth or eighth. But, for one more time after this regular season, I want to congratulate my club, my team, my players, because we are in the playoffs for the second year in a row. I want to say that this is a huge success for everyone inside the club, as we have made some standards and this club is showing up as a very important team in competition by being two times in a row in the EuroCup playoffs. Of course, expectations are higher after what happened last year and believe me that we have high goals too. But we also have to be realistic and congratulate our players for making the playoffs for the second year in a row."

### Germani Brescia head coach Alessandro Magro

"First of all, it’s a huge honor for our club to participate in an amazing competition like the EuroCup. I want to say congratulations to coach Dusan \[Alimpijevic\] and all the organization of Bursaspor for what you did last season and what you keep on doing here and I wish you good luck for the playoffs.

As for us, we were able to arrive here and manage some injury situations and try to give minutes to players who until now had fewer chances to show up on the court. To be honest, obviously we made mistakes, obviously Bursaspor had the chance to even get large leads and they deserved to do so. But in the end, we were able to come back, to keep fighting together. We are still recovering some players like Troy Caupain, who needs playing time to get game rhythm and flow. And everything we’ve done is because we want to be absolutely ready in one week, after the break, for the EuroCup playoffs."

### Frutti Extra Bursaspor player Onuralp Bitim

"I am happy that we won and that I helped the team. We have a really good team, as we showed last year and at the beginning of this year. It's a long season. We weren't playing like our real selves in the last couple of months, but we know that the most important time of the year is the last couple of months. So, even if we played badly a couple of months ago, I think that we know that the most important time is coming and I think that we will be ready."

Onuralp Bitim, Bursaspor: 'The most important time is coming'

 Jaylen Hoard, Hapoel: 'I think we can go far' 

### Danny Franco, Hapoel head coach

"Super proud of our guys and our club for making a great debut in the EuroCup competition, finishing up on a high note today in front of our fans, who are following us everywhere, home and away. I just appreciate their effort. We're going to keep on dreaming, try to go as far as we can. And big respect to everybody for the effort and the way we played today."

### Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv forward Jaylen Hoard:

"I think we can go far. We have a deep team, a lot of guys who can contribute from different places, so I think we are a balanced team, and I think we can go far. We are just focusing on the main things, being unselfish. Our best games is when we have a lot of assists, so we have to continue to share the ball and trust each other, I think that is going to help us a lot. We have shown that we can score the ball but the main thing is locking in on defense to help the offense and stuff. When we get stops, we can get out, run, play fast and that is when we are at out best."

Jaylen Hoard, Hapoel: 'I think we can go far'

Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv locked a top-three finish in Group B by thrashing Promitheas Patras 108-69 at Shlomo Group Arena on Tuesday. Jaylen Hoard led the winners with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Tomer Ginat added 18 points, Chinanu Onuaku had 16, Xavier Munford 11 and J'Covan Brown 10 for Hapoel.

Hapoel thrashes Promitheas, 108-69!

Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv locked a top-three finish in Group B by thrashing Promitheas Patras 108-69 at Shlomo Group Arena on Tuesday evening. Hapoel ended the regular season with a 13-5 record, and it will finish second in Group B if Buducnost VOLI Podgorica beats Turk Telekom Ankara tomorrow, or third if Buducnost loses. Promitheas finished Group B in fourth place with an 11-7 record.

Jaylen Hoard led the winners with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Tomer Ginat added 18 points, Chinanu Onuaku scored 16, Xavier Munford had 11 and J'Covan Brown contributed 10 for Hapoel, which outrebounded Promitheas 44-17 and finished the game with 30 assists. Joe Thomasson led Promitheas with 16 points. Arnoldas Kulboka added 14 for the guests.

Munford and Onuaku combined for 11 points in a 13-5 opening run. Ginat soon helped Hapoel make it a double-digit game, 19-9. Nemanja Dangubic and Nikos Gkikas each struck from downtown in a 0-7 run that brought Promitheas within 19-16. Hoard dunked, getting help from Idam Zalmanson, to restore a 28-19 Hapoel lead after 10 minutes. 

Hoard dunked again and Gil Beni capped a 13-0 Hapoel run with a three-pointer, good for a 35-19 lead. Onuaku took over at both ends and an unstoppable Hoard helped Hapoel pull away, 47-24. Jordan McRae and Onuaku boosted the hosts' margin to 59-31 at halftime.

McRae buried a triple right after the break for a 31-point Hapoel lead, 62-31. Thomasson stepped up for Promitheas, keeping his team within 65-37. Thomasson kept pacing the guests and Dangubic struck twice from beyond the arc to bring Promitheas closer, 76-52, after 30 minutes. 

Hoard took over with a three-point play and a huge alley-oop slam, restoring an 81-52 Hapoel advantage. Nothing really changed in the final eight minutes, as Hapoel boosted its margin to 98-60, before keeping a safe margin and cruising to a well-deserved, important home victory.