The veteran center had his finest ever game in the competition to spark his team on opening night
Ante Tomic stars as Joventut holds off Hapoel, 78-75
Joventut Badalona erased a 10-point second-quarter deficit before outlasting Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv 78-75 in the team’s season-opener at Palau Olimpic de Badalona on Tuesday night.
The hosts' big men all stood out as center Ante Tomic posted 17 points on near-perfect shooting and 12 rebounds for a personal-best PIR of 32. Kaiser Gates scored 16 points on 4-of-7 three-point shooting in his EuroCup debut and Artem Pustovyi contributed 11 points and 5 boards off the bench. Devin Dotson orchestrated the attack with 11 points and 6 assists.
For Hapoel, Patrick Beverley delivered 14 points, 6 assists and 3 steals, Bruno Caboclo tallied 14 points and 4 steals and Johnathan Motley tallied 11 points and 6 rebounds before leaving the game late with an injury.
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Hapoel pounded the ball inside early to maximize its size advantage, but Joventut took advantage of 3 Hapoel turnovers to move in front 11-4 on a three-pointer by Gates. Pustovyi's slam and bonus free throw extended the margin to 16-5. Motley revived Hapoel with 5 straight points, Beverley and Guy Palatin got involved with steals and assists and Caboclo scored 7 in a 0-16 charge that made it 16-21 after 10 minutes.
Tomic ended the Joventut drought only to see Beverly and Palatin drain back-to-back threes. Palatin gave Hapoel its first double-digit lead, 20-30, with a free throw after an offensive rebound. Gates and Tomic led the Joventut comeback with the latter making a pair of threes in a 12-2 run that tied the game, 32-32. Caboclo’s jumper in the lane briefly put Hapoel on top. Kassius Robertson’s first points came from a tough three-pointer that evened things at halftime, 37-37.
Joventut grabbed a slim lead at the onset of the second half, but Hapoel remained hot on its tail. Beverley took a seat after drawing a charge and his replacement, Palatin, put the visitors in front with a three-pointer. Adam Hanga matched him to tie the score, 51-51. Free throws by Pustovyi gave Joventut a 57-55 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Tomic scored the first 2 baskets of the fourth quarter to increase Joventut’s lead to 6 points. Marcus Foster drilled a deep three and Tomer Ginat added a layup to bring Hapoel within 63-62. Gates drained his fourth three of the game on one end, rejected Caboclo at the other and then Beverley was called for an unsportsmanlike foul on Guillen Vives, after which Joventut’s lead was 5. Pustovyi made it 70-64 with 4 minutes remaining. Beverley landed a triple, but Motley had to be helped off the floor with 2 minutes left after an apparent leg injury. Beverley added another three to make it 75-73. Hanga responded with a floater with 41.7 seconds remaining and Joventut held on.