Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Bayern Munich 82-72 in Euroleague action on Tuesday night in Germany as Elijah Bryant and Dan Oturu controlled the game from the get-go to improve the Reds’ first-place record to 13-5 on the season.
Bryant and Oturu paced Hapoel Tel Aviv out of the gate while Oscar Da Silva and Wenyen Gabriel responded to Bayern Munich. But points from Jonathan Motley gave the Reds a 21-14 lead after the opening quarter.
Vladimir Lucic, Isiaha Mike, and Andres Obst tried to keep the hosts close, but Bryant and Otutu scored with ease while Antonio Blakeney scored from the inside and outside to give Dimitrios Itoudis’s team a 44-32 advantage.
Yam Madar, Oturu, and Blakeney continued to find the bottom of the basket in the third quarter to bump the lead up to 64-46 after 30 minutes. However, Obst and David McCormack started to drill down on the lead down the stretch. But it would not be enough as the Reds wrapped up the win.
Bryant scored 18 points, Oturu scored 16 points, while Blakeney and Chris Jones scored 12 points apiece for Hapoel in the victory, while Obst scored 18 points to lead Bayern, McCormack added 12 points, and Mike scored 11 points in the loss.
Itoudis reflected on the win.
“The way we managed to keep Bayern’s scorers and team below 20 points in each of the first three quarters with a transition to a new coach shows that we were the better team. We want to accept the challenges against the historical teams, and we are trying to build something that will last.”
' Our job is to play aggressively'
Munich coach Svetislav Pesic shared his thoughts on the defeat.
“We have to play much better, and we felt at times that we played five against zero. Our first job is to play aggressively and not be too comfortable – and we didn’t use our fouls.”
Bryant, the game’s MVP, also spoke about the victory.
“We got the win, and that’s what matters. We have a lot of things to correct, but we will take this one and move on. Bayern doesn’t stop until the final buzzer,r and you have to be locked in the entire game.”
Oturu, too, looked back at the win.
“We’re trying to do good things, and we wanted to come out with the win, and we did a good job in this game. I want to thank my teammates, coaching staff, and fans. We respect each and every opponent in this league, and every game poses a certain challenge, and we now have to focus on our upcoming Israeli league games."
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