Defense is the key as Hapoel Holon is through to the Second Stage

Hapoel Holon will be one of the Israeli teams that will be in the Second Stage of Delasport Balkan League. The team played great defense in the second half to defeat Hapoel SP Tel Aviv 77-66 at home to qualify further in the competition. The visitors led at the break but then Holon stepped up on defense, allowed just 31 points and came out with the win. Now the team will wait for Group E to finish in order to understand its opponents in the Second Stage. As for Hapoel Tel Aviv, the team really did well early but then couldn't hold and is now out of the competition.

The visitors jumped to an early 10-2 lead and kept it until the end of the first half. Few times the hosts cut the deficit to 2 points, once even to just 1, but never had took an advantage in the first two quarters.

All of that changed at the 3:20 mark of the third quarter when CJ Harris scored to give Holon its first lead of the game. It didn't last long as the visitors restored their advantage and even went on a run to go up by 5 but a 9-0 run to end the quarter, gave the hosts the lead for good. The game continued to be close with the visitors missing few chances to tie it before the middle of the fourth quarter. Then, the home side scored 7 points in a row to go up by 9 and eventually held on to its advantage in the final three minutes.

Chris Johnson was the top scorer for the winners with his 13 points. Isaiah Miles had 12 while Maxime De Zeeuw and Tyrus McGee added 10 points apiece.

The visitors were led by Tyrique Jones who finished with double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds. Yam Madar had 15 points and 4 assists as Reggie Upshaw added 12 points and 8 rebounds. The visitors though missed a total of 9 free throws and couldn't capitalize on the fact that they had 7 offensive rebounds more than its opponent.

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