The hosts allowed just 6 points in the final frame
Zvezda defense, clutch Jordan Nwora too much for Hapoel in fourth quarter
Informes de partidos
3 Min lectura
Regular Season
Round 26 of 38
Regular Season
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet BelgradeCZV
8775
Hapoel IBI Tel AvivHTA
Overview
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Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade was inspired by its passionate home fans and carried by Jordan Nwora in a dominant fourth quarter to extend its winning streak to five games.
Nwora scored nine of his game-high 22 points in the final frame of an 87-75 home victory over Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv in which Zvezda only allowed six points to the guests.
“They are still one of the top teams for the Final Four. They showed for a good majority of the game how good they are. It was an amazing game, but like so many other games, we showed the best character in the last quarter,” said Zvezda head coach Sasa Obradovic. “I think we did a great job, especially in the last quarter, dominating on defense. We deserved to win the game. We will take this win as an example for future games with full confidence.”
Zvezda improved to 16-10 while Hapoel fell to 16-9 after its third straight loss without star guard Elijah Bryant.
“My teammates rely on me. I am someone who has been able to make shots down the stretch this year,” said Nwora, who was the subject of MVP chants from the Belgrade Arena crowd. “It’s great, hopefully we can keep it rolling.”
Jared Butler scored 17 points, Codi Miller-McIntyre chipped in 10 points and 9 assists, and Joel Bolomboy added 8 points and 7 rebounds in his second game back from injury.
“It was amazing. We focused more on defense in the second half and won the game. Shout out to Jordan, he’s a clutch player. Incredible talent, incredible person. He played amazing tonight and I am happy for him,” said Miller-McIntyre of Nwora.
Neither team could really open much of a lead in the first quarter, though Zvezda grabbed eight offensive rebounds in the period to make up for five Hapoel three-pointers for a 25-21 lead after 10 minutes.
A strong start to the second quarter gave Zvezda a 33-24 advantage. Hapoel’s defense picked up and the guests’ offense put together a 3-11 spurt to go ahead 41-42. Zvezda got its attack going again and was up 49-45 at the break.
The third quarter saw Hapoel big man Dan Oturu pick up his third and fourth fouls within six seconds with nearly eight minutes to go. But Chris Jones sparked the Israeli side to build a 62-69 lead after 30 minutes.
The hosts were inspired by the fans and held Hapoel scoreless for the first seven minutes of the final frame for the first 14 points and a 76-69 lead. A three-pointer by Jones finally got Hapoel on the board but Zvezda just kept going.
Jones finished with 16 points and Ish Wainright had 15 points for Hapoel.
“We fought very well for three quarters. We managed to build up a good margin for that period. But we couldn’t respond at the end to the aggressiveness. It was too much of a load for our ball creators. And we couldn’t respond to that,” said Hapoel head coach Dimitris Itoudis.
“The pressure they had on our guards was enormous. We needed more people to contribute. The 13-24 score shows the mentality we had in the third quarter, but the fourth quarter was completely different.”
