Cedevita Olimpija suffered a defeat in the first round of EuroCup group A against Hapoel in Tel Aviv with a score of 100-73.
The home team started the game much better, taking an early lead of 17-9, indicating that they could secure a victory without significant difficulties. The in-form Jaylen Hoard at one point extended Hapoel’s lead to double digits, but the guests managed to reduce the deficit to seven points (28-21) with a 4-0 run towards the end of the quarter.
Ljubljana’s team looked remarkably poor offensively in the rest of the game, allowing J’Covan Brown and his team to completely dictate the game’s pace. Unlike the first quarter, Cedevita Olimpija lacked the energy to narrow the gap in the final minutes of the second quarter, trailing by 12 points at halftime (48-36).
Simone Pianigiani‘s team looked exceptionally poor even in the third quarter, and the main contributors to keeping the deficit ‘only’ at 16 points before the final 10 minutes were Justin Cobbs and Karlo Matkovic (71-55).
The in-form Xavier Munford extended his team’s lead to plus 20 early in the fourth quarter, after which we witnessed a ‘routine’ closure of the game by Hapoel. The complete knockout of the Slovenian team allowed the Israelis to widen the gap to plus 30, but the guests managed to slightly mitigate the debacle in the last minute.
Xavier Munford was the top scorer for Hapoel with 21 points, while Justin Cobbs stood out for Cedevita Olimpija with 15.
In the next round of EuroCup, the team from Tel Aviv will host the Wolves, while Cedevita Olimpija will face Joventut.