Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Real Madrid Baloncesto 76-69 on Tuesday night in a do-or-die Game 3, keeping the Reds’ EuroLeague season alive and cutting the best-of-five quarterfinal series to 2-1 in favor of Madrid. The result pushed the series toward another crucial Game 4 on Thursday night back at Tel Aviv’s home-away-from-home in Bulgaria, where the next round of this high-stakes contest will be decided.
Who Has the Power
The opening minutes belonged to Real Madrid Baloncesto, with Facundo Campazzo and Gabriel Deck orchestrating the offense as Los Blancos grabbed an early lead. That early control did not last. Chris Jones and Elijah Bryant pulled Hapoel back within reach, trimming the deficit to 36-34 by halftime. The game then shifted again as Vasilije Micic began to make an impact for Hapoel, while Trey Lyles answered at the other end for Real.
Antonio Blakeney and Dan Oturu helped Dimitrios Itoudis’s team take the lead for good, and the Reds kept their foot on the gas to close out the victory. In a competition built around elite clubs and pressure from above, the team that had been trailing found enough force to break through the structure for one night.
Bryant and Jones each scored 19 points to lead Tel Aviv, while Micic added 13 points in the win. Lyles scored 14 points, Deck put in 11 points, and Campazzo scored 10 points for Real in the loss.
What They Called a Must-Win
Itoudis framed the game as a survival test, saying: “I want to congratulate my team for going to 2-1 in the series and Elijah for winning the award. It was a do-or-die situation for us against a great team, and even though we were down by 10 points, we found the right chemistry and dug all the way into the bench. We won the rebounding battle, and keeping Real Madrid at 69 points says a lot. We played like a playoff team.”
Real Madrid coach Sergio Scariolo responded with the language of inevitability that often surrounds top-tier institutions, saying: “It’s almost impossible to beat one of the top teams in the competition five straight times, but we came close. Congrats to Hapoel and now we move on to try and win the series in four games.”
Bryant kept the focus on the grind inside the game itself, saying: “We have to play with energy and a sense of urgency. They out-hustled us in Madrid, but we came out here in the third quarter and got the win.”
The Rest of the Scoreboard
In Israeli league action, Ironi Ness Ziona defeated Hapoel Holon 104-98 as Desi Rodriguez, Bryce Brown and Marques Bolden led the visitors past the hosts. Hapoel Holon was paced by Adama Sanogo, Darin Green Jr. and Netanel Artzi. Rodriguez scored 24 points, and Bolden added 18 points in the victory, while Sanogo scored 26 points and Green put in 21 points in the loss.
Bnei Herzliya eased past Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan 104-88 as Yehu Orland’s team scored early and often to take a 56-43 lead at halftime and never looked back. Six players scored in double digits. Shalev Lugashi scored 19 points, Zack Bryant added 18 points, while Evan Bruinsma and Jordon Varnado scored 17 points apiece in the win. Gil Beni and Terrell Brown Jr. scored 17 points each for Ramat Gan in the loss.
Elitzur Netanya walloped Maccabi Ra'anana 102-77 as Eli Rabi’s team jumped out to a huge lead right from the tipoff, with Otis Frazier pacing the hosts to the 25-point win. Frazier scored 35 points and finished the game with a 50 efficiency rating; Amit Gershon scored 20 points, and Cameron Oliver added 18 points in the victory. Tyrece Radford scored 18 points and Javion Hamlet put in 17 points for Ra’anana in the loss.