Baskonia gets out of the hole against Hapoel in an offensive festival

Kosner Baskonia put an end to its bad dynamics in the Regular Phase of the 2025-2026 Euroleague this Friday with a clear and joyful 118-109 victory against the Israeli Hapoel Tel Aviv despite playing without the support of the Fernando Buesa Arena and after being better in defense than its rival after a first half marked by relentless attacks.

After seven defeats in a row and almost two months without winning in the top continental competition, the Baskonista team once again smiled at one of the candidates for the ‘Top 4’ and in the process lent a hand to Real Madrid, Valencia Basket and Barça who have a direct rival to Dimitris Itoudis’s team.

Paolo Galbiati’s men achieved it thanks to a collective game that worked very well, with seven players with double figures and led by Trent Forrest (22), the success in the three-pointer (14/32) and a greater defensive hardening after the break that did not find the visitor’s response in the other hoop.

Baskonia and Hapoel scored the biggest joint score at halftime in the history of the Euroleague. 131 points between them after the spectacular 67-64 of the first 20 minutes where the defenses barely made an appearance and where the triples on the local side (9) and the countless ‘2+1′ on the visitor made the scoreboard of the soulless Buesa Arena the hardest working.

The Israeli team was inspired by Elijah Bryant, author of 19 of Dimitris Itoudis’ 31 points in the first quarter and without missing any of his shots. Hapoel only missed two in that opening, but, although they managed to double the Vitorian team at the start (8-16), they could not give them continuity to break the match because their rival responded with their outside success, led by Luwawu-Cabarrot.

And the offensive joy of the first ten minutes in the Zurbano Street fiefdom not only did not stop in the seconds but multiplied, something that did not punish Paolo Galbiati’s men, who went almost to the 40th score in a match of arson between the two and that also caused several alternatives on the electronic.

DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT AFTER THE REST

Bryant, less effervescent, found relief in Chris Jones, author of a ‘3+1’, Antonio Blakeney and Dan Oturu, while the King’s Cup champion continued with his most collaborative game and with all his players participating, among them a Rodions Kurucs back to alleviate the ills of the Vitorian team’s infirmary that led 46-39 and went to the locker room ahead thanks to a final partial of 10-2 (67-64).

Galbiati and Itoudis instructed their respective hosts in the reflection time to ask for a defensive improvement. The game began to get tougher, with more fouls, no longer accompanied by ‘2+1’, and with more visits to free throws. The pace dropped and there Baskonia knew how to handle itself better to consolidate its advantage and not let go.

Hapoel, on the other hand, got stuck in attack, where they lost success and also chained a carousel of consecutive losses that the locals did not waste as they began to see the end of the bad streak close. A three-pointer from Simmons almost at the buzzer made it 92-81 for the final ten minutes.

This time, the Vitorian team did not run out of energy or get carried away, while Hapoel, with more pressure to qualify, continued to be gripped and paying for Bryant’s decline and Micic’s weak game. The visitors tried not to get disengaged with the triples, but Diakite’s final energy ended up leaving them without options.

TECHNICAL SHEET.

–RESULT: KOSNER BASKONIA, 118 – HAPOEL TEL AVIV, 109 (67-64, at halftime).

–TEAMS.

KOSNER BASKONIA: Forrest (22), Villar (3), Radzevicius (12), Kurucs (9) and Diakite (15) –initial quintet–; Omoruyi (11), Simmons (14), Nowell (3), Spagnolo (6), (10) Frisch, Luwawu-Cabarrot (13) and Hrabar (-).

HAPOEL TEL AVIV: Micic (8), Wainright (3), Bryant (26), Malcolm (6) and Oturu (21) –starting quintet–; Blakeney (19), Motley (8), Madar (-), Randolph (-), Edwards (5) and Jones (13).

–PARTIALS: 28-31, 39-33, 25-17 and 26-28.

–REFEREES: Lottermoser, Jovcic and Boubert. They fouled out Wainright.

–PAVILLION: Fernando Buesa Arena.