Hapoel Holon returned to the winning track yesterday (Tuesday) with an impressive 79:101 victory over Legia Warsaw in the Toto Hall as part of the fifth round of the group stage in the FIBA Champions League and rose to the top of Group C with the help of a wonderful game by Chris Johnson with 25 points and a record display of Joe Ragnald with 18 assists which set a new factory record.
A few minutes before the start of the match, Guy Goodes' apprentices received the news from the corresponding match at home that took place in Turkey, where the Belgian Ostend surprised the local Galatasaray, and in fact determined that the Purples depend only on themselves and can take the lead at the end of the evening and they did not let the opportunity slip away from them when they took the lead after Only 25 seconds and hold it until the end.
"I'm happy with the way and the attitude we started the game with because we knew how important this game was for us," stated Guy Goodes at the end.
"We wanted to secure second place and keep the possibility of advancing to the top of the house and that's what we did. Every player who came up to play understood the importance of the game and did all the little things that helped us win."
Ragland.
Record display, photo: Oded Karni
The champion pounced on her opponent right from the start and took a quick 4:16 lead that heralded the future.
The Purples were already in a double-digit gap after just a few minutes, when at halftime the difference had already jumped to 25 points, which allowed Goodes to combine all 11 players registered on the form in the match, when everyone who played also got on the scoreboard thanks to an impressive offensive and team display of 30 assists.
"I'm happy that the young guys who work hard in training also came up to play and scored, they work very hard for these minutes and I'm very happy for them," Godes shared regarding Harel Dadon, Shahar Amir and Gal Evers, who came up to play and contributed their part.
During the fourth quarter, the team's point guard Joe Ragland recorded an impressive milestone when he broke the factory record for assists in a single game and put it at 18, but remained focused as usual at the end.
"I am completely focused on the team's success, so a personal achievement is not very significant for me. I will continue to do what I do well to help the team win," said the guard who also added 5 points and 4 rebounds.
The club expressed satisfaction with the performance of Chris Johnson who led the scoring list with 25 points and 7 rebounds.
"Teams sometimes bet on his shooting and this time it was his day. Chris is one of the pillars of the team in terms of toughness and leadership in terms of tone in defense and attack. He doesn't give up on anyone and especially not himself," Goodes concluded.
Now the Purples will start preparing for their next game when they will host Hapoel Eilat on Monday as part of the ninth round in the Winner League.
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