By: Jay Yeomans

Published: August 30, 2018

Elijah Bryant has found a home for the 2018-19 season, and it is a long way away from Provo.

The Israeli Basket League Twitter page announced that Bryant has signed to play with Hapoel Eilat or the Israeli Winner League.

Bryant left BYU after a strong junior season where he earned First-Team All-WCC honors after averaging 18.2 points on 49.4 percent shooting from the field, 41.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc and 85 percent from the foul line. He also contributed 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals to help lead the Cougars to a 24-win campaign.

Hapoel Eilat is coming off a season where it finished with a 16-17 regular season record and a seventh place finish before falling to eventual league finalist Hapoel Holon 3-2 in a quarter-final playoff series.

While the Eilat roster doesn’t have many household names for American basketball viewers, one familiar face to many college fans will play alongside the Cougar standout this season; former North Carolina Tar Heel, J.P. Tokoto.

While the Israeli Winner League is a far cry from the NBA, it is a strong league with plenty of quality players who will help Bryant improve his game on a game-by-game basis.

Some big names to play in the Winner League in the last year are former NBA players Norris Cole, Jordan Hamilton,  and Glen Rice Jr. along with NCAA standouts like Jeremy Pargo (Gonzaga), Alex Tyus (Florida), DeAndre Kane (Iowa State), Pierre Jackson (Baylor), DeShaun Thomas (Ohio State), Jeff Adrien (Connecticut), J’Covan Brown (Texas) and many more.

Ambrosino sees limited minutes in loss

Wednesday wasn’t a great night for Augustin Ambrosino or his CAN Oruro teammates as they fell, 85-68 to Pichincha in game 4 of the Libobasquet first-round playoff series.

Ambrosino had his least productive game of the series in the setback, finishing with just seven points on 50 percent shooting from the floor, including a make on his only 3-point attempt. He added four rebounds and an assist while playing only 21 minutes.

The fifth and deciding game of the series is on Friday night.

Abouo has a solid effort in loss

Charles Abouo and ADA Blois had their hands full with another tough preseason game on Wednesday that did not go their way.

The French ProB squad lost its second straight game to an upper division squad, dropping a 93-77 decision to Okapi Aalstar. In the loss, Abouo totaled six points, six rebounds and three assists while playing 28:58.

The latest on Tavernari and Mika in Italy

Jonathan Tavernari had a nice game as Cantu blew out the Lugano Tigers, 113-84 in their first exhibition game of the 2018-19 campaign.

In the lopsided win, the former BYU sharper shooter totaled eight points. It was a good start to the six-game preseason slate for Tavernari and Cantu before they start their season with a pair of Basketball Champions League match-ups.

As for Eric Mika, he didn’t dress as Basket Brescia Leonessa came away with a 74-52 win in a scrimmage with Juvi Cremona on Wednesday.