Xavier Munford got 14 of his total 25 points in the last period, in which Hapoel outscored Venice 32-16 to clinch its fifth win in a row.
Munford led Hapoel’s strong finish



Anyone who would have just seen the final score of the game that Hapoel Schlomo Tel Aviv and Umana Reyer Venice played at the Stark Arena on Wednesday could think I was an easy and peaceful evening for the winners, as the hosts registered a 100-81 victory.
But the truth was quite the opposite, as Venice was in front for several minutes in the first half and stayed ahead, 56-63, midway through the third period. A 12-2 run to finish the quarter paved the way for Hapoel, which entered the last stanza ahead by 68-65 and displayed an amazing offensive performance in the last 10 minutes.
Hapoel scored 32 points in that final quarter, making 5 two-pointers on 9 attempts, going 6-for-8 from behind the arc, and adding 4 free throws in as many trips to the line. On the other side, Venice was able to score just 16 points while shooting 5-for-14 from the field.
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"I think playing without [our two] point guards tonight was big deal," Umana Reyer Venice head coach Neven Spahija said after. "We played a pretty good game until the end of the third quarter, but in the last quarter we lost so many balls, and the opposite side made a lot of threes, […] They made some threes even contested."
One of those who punished Spahija’s team the most was Xavier Munford, who finished as the game's top scorer with 25 points and an incredible shooting card. Munford collected 5 two-pointers on just 7 attempts and wen for 5-for-6 from behind the arc. In the last period he was especially lethal, nailing 4 of those without a miss on his way to a 14-point fourth-quarter performance.
"We decided to pick it up coming out for the third quarter," Munford revealed after the game. "We were down, but we decided to put in more effort on defense and rebounding. And that allowed us to get out and run and play our style of play, so I think that really was the turning point of the game."