Buducnost VOLI Podgorica put on a solid defensive display to end Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv’s seven-game winning streak with an 89-79 victory on home soil in Round 15. Heading into Tuesday’s game at Moraca, the visitors boasted the finest attack in the competition with an average of 87.9 points scored per game. Yet, Buducnost managed to hold the visitors to just 79 points by conceding fewer than 20 points in each of the first three quarters.
Despite leading the league in assists with an impressive average of 21.7 per game, Hapoel Tel Aviv struggled to create on offense; it recorded just 13 assists alongside 14 turnovers. Buducnost once again demonstrated that it has one of the finest defenses in the competition, averaging a EuroCup-low 74.7 points conceded per game.
The hosts practically killed the game off in the early stages of the fourth quarter by grabbing a 73-53 lead with 8 minutes to go.
“We didn’t start the game with the right attitude to compete with a team like Buducnost, especially at their home court,” Hapoel's head coach Danny Franco noted after the game. “The beginning of the game frustrated us, it made us take a lot of bad decisions on the offensive side and that’s not how we are leading the EuroCup in points and assists. We didn’t look like that today.”