The Lithuanian team ended a two-game losing slide but the visitors just managed to hold on to the head-to-head advantage.
Wolves bounce back to down Hapoel, 104-100
Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius tightened up the Group A playoff picture by coming back to beat Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv, 104-100. Both teams are now tied at 6-5, with Hapoel narrowly claiming the head-to-head advantage after winning by 5 earlier in the season.
Hapoel enjoyed the better of a high-scoring first half that featured 19 three-pointers. The third quarter was back and forth, before a 12-0 run at the start of the fourth gave Wolves the lead for good. Anthony Cowan was the hero with a double-double of 28 points and 10 assists, while Andrew Andrews and Tre’Shawn Thurman combined for 9 triples as they totaled 20 and 23 respectively. Yam Madar powered Hapoel with 28 points and 7 assists, while Marcus Foster scored 17 and Marcus Bingham added 12.
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Thurman’s triple opened the scoring, but Hapoel answered inside through Madar, Tomer Ginat and the returning Johnathan Motley. Foster and Ismail Wainright added deep strikes for a 5-13 lead. Uncontested scores for Foster and Ginat kept the visitor rolling, and Madar’s three made it 8-20. Cowan’s three-point play and Arnoldas Kulboka’s triple boosted Wolves before another Foster bomb kept a safe margin. Cowan and Andrews responded for Wolves from beyond the arc, and Garrison Brooks’ fierce slam made it 25-31 after 10 minutes.
Inside scores from Bingham and Joe Ragland opened the second quarter, before Kulboka and Kristupas Zemaitis replied from deep. Antonio Blakeney joined the three-point party, making it 31-41. Andrews hit another triple, before Bingham, Ragland and Blakeney finished well inside for a 38-47 lead. Andrews and Cowan nailed more threeballs for Wolves, as did Guy Palatin at the other end. Andrews stayed hot from deep, and Zemaitis added yet another triple before Thurman tied it from close-range after a 10-2 run. Motley finished the first half from the foul line, making it 56-58.
Thurman’s reverse layup and Cowan’s triple gave Wolves the lead early in the third, but Motley’s three-point play tied it up, 61-61. Thurman added another pair of threeballs, but Madar and Foster answered from deep at the other end for a 69-70 Hapoel lead. Thurman hit his fourth triple, before it became a game of free throws as defenses finally got on top. Thurman was again on target from long-range, but Foster responded with his own three and Madar added a layup for an 81-83 lead with 10 minutes left.
Wolves dominated the opening stages of the fourth, moving ahead 90-83 as Brooks scored twice inside and Cowan added his fifth triple. Kulboka made it a double-digit lead with another three, before Ragland finally snapped the 12-0 run. A fastbreak slam from Zemaitis gave Wolves another 95-85 edge with 4 minutes left, and another Andrews triple kept the hosts comfortable. Andrews went inside to take his team to three figures before Madar’s triple gave Hapoel hope. Foster pulled it back to 100-98 with 36 seconds left, but free throws from Andrews and Cowan sealed the win.