A back-and-forth first 30 minutes ended with the hosts exploding late for their fourth triple-digit scoring game of the season.
Hapoel dominates Venice, 100-81



Hapoel Schlomo Tel Aviv clinched its fifth win a row when it defeated visiting Umana Reyer Venice 100-81 at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade on Wednesday . The game was back and forth for until a 17-2 burst by Hapoel midway through the last quarter broke the game open. Hapoel improved to 9-2 to hold second place in Group A. Venice slipped to 4-8 with its third straight loss.
Xavier Munford led Hapoel with 25 points on 5-of-6 from behind the arc, John Holland posted 20 points and 8 boards in less than 18 minutes, Kyle Alexander registered a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, Jaylen Hoard went for 14 points and Bar Timor contributed 13 points and 8 assists for the winners. Rayjon Tucker paced Venice with 16 points, Amadeo Tessitori followed with 13 and Jeff Brooks, Kyle Wiltjer and Barry Brown added 10 apiece in the losing effort.
Game Videos
Venice started strong, withstood Holland
Venice started strong, but Hapoel soon found answers in Alexander and Munford, who combined for 9 points as the hosts took an 11-5 edge. The teams swapped baskets after a Reyer timeout, with Hapoel staying ahead 17-9. Davide Casarin's first three-pointer ignited the visitors' offense. Wiltjer followed from downtown and Casarin soon repeated to build a 0-13 run that turned the tables, 17-22, at the end of the first period. A red-hot Holland helped Hapoel take the wheel again. Hitting a couple of three-pointers among a string of baskets, he let the hosts to recover a 35-29 advantage midway through the second quarter. Despite Venice’s efforts to stop him, Holland kept rocking and amassed 14 points without missing a field goal as Hapoel led 39-36. Fortunately for the guests, Holland had to head the bench with 3 fouls and that gave wings to Venice. A 2-11 run to finish the second quarter granted the visitors a 41-47 lead at the half.
Hapoel gears up to flip the coin
Tessitori did his job inside to make it 46-54 for Venice right after the intermission. Hapoel increased the pace of the game and found a good offensive momentum thanks to the duo Alexander and Munford, whose efforts reduced the gap to 56-58. The visitors didn’t shrink, though, as Tucker emerged to make a 56-63 edge after 26 minutes. Hapoel took advantage of a TV timeout to punish Reyer with a 12-2 run in the next 4 minutes, including a buzzer-beating circus layup by Munford to take a 68-65 advantage into the last stanza. Munford continued Hapoel’s resurgence with a three-pointer to make it 71-65. Tessitori showed up again to try to keep Venice in the contest, but it soon proved not enough. Munford scored 5 points to start a 14-1 run midway through the final quarter that granted Hapoel a solid double-digit lead, 91-75. When he stroked twice again twice from downtown to make it 97-78, and Holland followed with another triple, Hapoel was on its way to reaching triple-digit scoring for the fourth time this season.