The visitors blew a 14-point advantage and trailed 73-77 in the fourth before taking charge late
Hapoel survives Wolves rally to clinch first win, 89-84

Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv had to wait till the last minutes of the game on Tuesday before wrapping up an 89-84 win over Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius at Samokov Arena. Despite dominating 59-45 right after the intermission, the hosts saw Wolves return to the game and take a 73-77 lead with 7 minutes to go. Patrick Beverley showed up then with 11 points in a 15-5 run that turned the tables and fueled Hapoel to the victory.
Jonathan Motley paced Hapoel on offense with 16 points, 6 boards and 6 assists, followed by Beverley and Tomer Ginat with 14 points apiece. Ish Wainwright provided 13 points and Joe Ragland had 11 for the winners. Tre’Shawn Thurman led all scorers with 29 points - including 5 three-pointers, while Anthony Cowan chipped in 11 and Garrison Brooks produced 10 in the losing effort.
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The hosts showed up with remarkable poise, scoring in each of their three first offenses to build a 7-0 advantage in less than 90 seconds. On the other side, Wolves needed 4 free throw attempts to score for the first time in the game. Hapoel kept finding easy points inside through Motley, but the visitors reacted strongly with back-to-back triples by Daniel Baslyk to even things 13-13 midway through the first quarter. Wainright and Bar Timor pushed Hapoel ahead 18-13 right before both teams shifted to their second units, which slowed the scoring pace a little bit. Ragland took over then to allow the hosts to finish the first period leading 26-20.
With its star Cowan scoreless so far, the visitors survived thanks to an incredible offensive spurt by Thurman, who erupted with a block and 11 points in a row - including three shots from behind the arc - to keep the visitors close, 35-33, after 14 minutes. But Hapoel prevented the opponent from completing the rally playing with patience in offense and gearing up in defense. A three by Timor after a great ball movement and a couple of fastbreaks to rapidly recover control, 46-37. Despite Cowan finally making a couple of buckets, Ginat and Wainright fueled Hapoel to a double-digit advantage at halftime, 53-41.
Hapoel started the third quarter the opposite it did the first; missing all offenses in the first 90 seconds. A free throw by Wainright broke the trend to keep the hosts comfortably in charge, 54-45. Beverly’s first three returned a 12-point lead to Hapoel, but the hosts’ woes from the free-throw line stopped them from digging it deeper. Thurman struck back again from deep, scoring 9 points in a row to bring Wolves within 60-53. Andrews joined then, forcing Hapoel to call for an urgent timeout with the margin reduced to just 5 points. Despite Ragland’s efforts to get the home team going, Wolves kept rocking, this time using Blazevic inside, to make it 66-65, soon after. The rally continued, as a four-point play by Thurman finished the third quarter with a 69-69 tie on the score.
Things got even worse for the hosts early in the last period when Matas Jogela and Cowan exploited Hapoel’s turnovers to combine for 8 points and put Wolves ahead for the first time in the game, 73-77. An off-the-glass three-pointer by Beverley started a shooting contest that finished when the visitors stopped the game still leading 79-80 with 5 minutes to go. Wolves had to call for another timeout just 2 minutes later, when Beverley returned the lead to Hapoel with a three. The American guard turned into an unstoppable force at that moment on both ends, hitting another one and stopping Cowan in defense to help Hapoel build an 86-80 edge entering the last minute. Wolves' efforts to come back again proved useless then, with Beverley hitting twice again from the line to seal the outcome.