The French side also secured a bye in the playoff eighthfinals with an emphatic road win over its closest rival.
Paris clinches Group A after beating Hapoel, 86-104

Paris Basketball clinched first place in BKT EuroCup Group A with three games to spare and booked an early berth in the competition’s last eight with a comprehensive 86-104 road win over Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv on Wednesday. Paris improved to 14-1 and, having won its group, it is assured of a bye in the first knockout round and hence a quarterfinal spot. Second-placed Hapoel, which had earlier secured a playoff spot, dropped to 11-4 and still has work to do in order to snatch the group's runners-up spot, which would also punch the Israeli side's last-eight ticket.


A balanced team effort saw all 12 Paris players get on the scoreboard, led by TJ Shorts who capped a stellar performance with 20 points and 10 assists. Colin Malcolm posted 15 points for Paris, Tyson Ward had 13 and 7 assists, while big man Leon Kratzer racked up 12 points and 8 rebounds. Nadir Hifi chipped in with 11 points for the visitors.
Dez Wells paced Hapoel with 20 points and 6 rebounds, shooting 8-of-10 from the floor. Tomer Ginat and Xavier Munford netted 14 points each, Bar Timor scored 13 and Will Cummings added 10 points for the hosts, who are playing their home games in Belgrade’s Aleksandar Nikolic Hall.
The first quarter produced a balanced contest as the teams were tied 26-26 after the opening 10 minutes, with Ginat scoring 8 points for Hapoel and Wells adding as many in quick succession. The lead changed hands several times before a 0-7 run by Paris early in the second set the tone for the remainder of the fast-paced clash.
Paris pulled away into a 43-51 halftime lead as its quick transition caused all sorts of problems for Hapoel, with the home team struggling in the paint against its more athletic rival. Paris had racked up 22 boards by halftime and 7 of were them on the offensive end, while Hapoel only managed 10 in total, 2 of them on offense.
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A fast start by Paris extended the visiting team’s lead to 47-61 early in the third quarter before Hapoel enjoyed its best spell of the game, engineering a 19-9 run which slashed the deficit to 66-70. That, however, turned out to be Hapoel’s last roar as Paris replied with a 0-8 run and then found another gear in the fourth quarter, carving out a 72-91 advantage which effectively forced the home side into submission.