HOLON (Israel) - After defeating Galatasaray Nef 82-73 in the Game of the Week, Hapoel Atsmon Holon are the only 3-0 team in Group C and have now won their last seven home games in the Basketball Champions League.

Before this streak, Holon had never previously won more than four in a row. They have also now won four of their last five games against teams from Turkey after losing the previous four.

Turning point: Galatasaray forced 5 turnovers in the first quarter and didn't commit any themselves, as they led 18-12 after the first 10 minutes. Holon rebounded in the second quarter and outscored Galatasaray 29-17 to grab a 41-35 lead at halftime, ending the quarter on a three-pointer at the buzzer by Hayden Dalton, assisted by Joe Ragland, who did a little bit of everything.

After trailing by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, Galatasaray got back to within 5 points, but Holon quickly extended their lead back to 9 points heading into the final quarter. Galatasaray opened the quarter on an 11-5 run to cut their deficit to 3 points, but that was as close as they got, as Holon closed the game out strong in front of their always energetic home fans.

Game heroes: Holon's two headed monster in the backcourt of Ragland (15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) and Erick Green (22 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 6-of-11 FG, 3-of-5 3P) combined to score 37 points and dished out 8 of the team's 15 total assists. Holon was a game-high +15 with Ragland on the court.

Through the team's first three games of the regular season, Green is now averaging 3.0 made threes per game while shooting an efficient 56.2 percent from beyond the arc.

Stats don't lie: Holon converted 51.9 percent of their three-point shots, while Galatasaray only got 26.2 percent of their shots to fall from deep. Galatasaray also left several points at the free-throw line, as they shot 12-of-19 from the charity stripe. These low shooting percentages proved to be a key difference in the end result.

Bottom line: Holon are now 3-0 and the Israeli club sit on top of the standings in Group C. They have won their first three games in a BCL season for the first time in their six campaigns in the league, while Galatasaray suffered their first loss of the 2022-23 BCL season and were led in defeat by Dee Bost who finished with 17 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. The Turkish club are now 2-1 in the group.

These two teams will square off again in their next game on Wednesday November 23, where Galatasaray will then be the home team.

They said:

"We started the game a little bit shaky. I think Joe was the main guy in the beginning, but the second quarter, I think we shared the ball more. Also in the third quarter, we find a better rhythm also on defense. One of our targets was to defend the three-point. I was very happy with the lineup that we played, the lineup of two bigs with Kenny Kadji and Marvin [Jones] and also Chris [Johnson] as a three and sometimes Hayden [Dalton] as a three. The big lineup gave us opportunity sometimes to switch, sometimes to be aggressive on the ball on the inside." - Guy Goodes, head coach Hapoel Atsmon Holon

"Defense was key. We rebounded in the second half, we got after it, we shared the ball. We're [Green and Ragland] the best backcourt in the league, hands down. We're the best one-two punch and we're going to keep showing it every single night and we're on a mission to keep proving that. He's [Ragland] so unselfish. He got off to a hot start and in the second half, he found his teammates and he controls the game." - Erick Green, Hapoel Atsmon Holon

"I think we started the game really good. We had very good defensive intensity, we followed the gameplan, but after that, we just lost our mind, but in the end, we achieved a lot of the things we wanted tactically to do. I think the difference in the end is the quality of shooting. We created good shots, and we missed them, while they [Holon] made a lot of tough shots." - Andreas Pistiolis, head coach Galatasaray Nef

"I feel like they executed the gameplan very well. We had a lot of mistakes, little mistakes. We missed a lot of free throws. We know we can do better, and we just have to get back and regroup and just wait for them in the next game." - Braian Angola, Galatasaray Nef