Baskonia played their best game of the season as they ended their losing streak in the EuroLeague by defeating Hapoel Tel Aviv 118-109.
Hapoel Tel Aviv continued their Spanish tour in the EuroLeague in an attempt to try and recover from a loss to Real Madrid, while Baskonia was still reeling from their dramatic loss in overtime to Crvena Zvezda in the previous round. Markus Howard, Khalifa Diop, Tadas Sedekerskis and Stefan Joksimovic were out for Baskonia, but Pablo Galbiati could count on the return of Rodions Kurucs. For Hapoel Tel Aviv, Tyler Ennis, Tomer Ginat, Tai Odiase and Itay Segev were absent in a game played without the presence of any fans.
The first period was marked by the unbelievable scoring of Elijah Bryant who went a flawless 7-7 from the field in the first quarter, and scored 19 points in the period. However, Baskonia played the type of basketball Galbiati wants with tremendous off ball movement and excellent perimeter shooting to take a 29-28 lead entering the second quarter.
The following period was played at an NBA pace with neither team waiting or making virtually any mistakes on offense. The side of Dimitris Itoudis shot nearly 90% inside the arc for the half, but Baskonia was simply on fire as they got on a 16-8 run in under three minutes to start the period. And while Chris Jones and Dan Oturu took over the scoring duties from Bryant, who had cooled off a little bit, with a brilliant two-man game.
Conversely, ten different scorers contributed for Baskonia, with Trent Forrest being the main danger from outside. The Spanish side had nearly 40 points in the period and a Marquise Nowell three pointer gave them a 67-64 lead entering the break in what was officially the highest scoring half in modern EuroLeague history.
A combined 131 Points at the half between @Baskonia and @HapoelTLVBC
— EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) March 27, 2026
The HIGHEST EVER In a half of EuroLeague Basketball
Buckets on REPEAT 🔁 pic.twitter.com/3ybfwn9vBi
Claim Now In the second half, the defense of Itoudis’ side seemed to completely fall apart as Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Kobe Simmons started being the hot hands for Baskonia. Hapoel Tel Aviv looked completely discombobulated on defense as nobody else besides the trio of Jones, Bryant and Oturu could do much, with Baskonia continuing their great shooting to take a 92-81 lead at the end of the third.
Then, Eugene Omoruyi and Clement Frisch joined the three-point bonanza and whilst Antonio Blakeney had more than half of his points in the fourth quarter, the hole was insurmountable for the Israeli team, as Baskonia triumphed 118-109 in one of the best offensive displays of this basketball season and broke their eight-game losing streak.
Seven players were in double figures for Baskonia, but Trent Forrest led the way with 22 points. For Hapoel Tel Aviv, Elijah Bryant had 26, Dan Oturu added 21 more and Antonio Blakeney had 19 but it was not enough.
Hapoel Tel Aviv saw their record fall to 20-13 as they remain the fifth seed, and their next game will be against Panathinaikos at home on April 2nd. Baskonia will host Real Madrid in their next round a day later.
Final, sumamos un triunfo más en @EuroLeague ante Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv 🏀 pic.twitter.com/Py2c8Tpc4r
— Kosner Baskonia (@Baskonia) March 27, 2026
