Tomer Ginat and Xavier Munford combined for 48 points, almost a half of Hapoel total score, to help their team win in London.
Ginat, Munford took turns lifting Hapoel past London
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Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv exited the Copperbox Arena with a smile on its face on Thursday after defeating host London Lions 90-98 to remain unbeaten with four wins in as many games in the BKT EuroCup regular season.
The visitors set the foundations of their fourth victory in the first half, reached halftime leading 39-51, and confirmed the outcome soon after the break, amassing a 22-point difference that London never jeopardized despite of several comeback attempts.
One key contributor to that dominance was forward Tomer Ginat, who finished the first half with an astonishing stat line of 20 points and 6 rebounds, going 9-for-10 from the field for a PIR of 27.
The Israeli forward had an impressive start to both of the first two quarters. He went 4-for-4 on two-pointers following the opening tip to grant Hapoel a 10-13 edge than ended up reaching 21-30 after 10 minutes. And he kept rocking early in the second, downing Hapoel's first 8 points for the first double-digit lead of the night, 28-38. He scored again a few moments before intermission, helping the visitors reach the locker room in full control.
Even though Ginat did not contribute in the second half as much as he did in the first – he finished with season highs of 24 points and 28 PIR – his performance opened the door for others to shine.
One of those were Xavier Munford, who took over when Ginat rested. Munford was the perfect foil for Ginat early in the game. He countered London's rally attempts by scoring the final points in both the first and second quarter to finish with 12 for the first half.
In the second, Munford opened fire with a three-pointer to spark a 0-10 run that he capped with another triple to grant Hapoel a 22-point lead, 39-61, that put London to the ropes. He would score two more shots from deep later to cool any hopes the hosts had of a late comeback.
By game's end, Munford had matched Ginat's 24 points, shooting 6-for-10 from long distance while adding 4 rebounds and 4 assist for a PIR of 20. With half of his points having come in the first 11 minutes after halftime, Munford basically took over where Ginat left off for a tag-team performance that was just too much for London.