By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Heading to their best-of-three-game series in this year’s BKT EuroCup Semifinals, JL Bourg-en-Bresse, and Besiktas were coming off completely different backgrounds in the season.
The French qualified by getting over Prometey in the Quarter-Finals after finishing the regular season in 1st place in Group B, while the Turkish team was the favorite’s slayer in the postseason, taking down Gran Canaria and Hapoel Tel Aviv after making it to the Playoffs with the 6th place in Group A.
In the Ekinox Arena of Bourg-en-Bresse, the former now got the 1-0 lead against the old Turkish giant, winning 86-74 after leading from the beginning until the end.
Creating a 16-point lead (30-14) at 5:15 in the second quarter, the home team already put the victory in the vault before halftime, led by JeQuan Lewis (15 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals) and Isiaha Mike (16 points and 6 rebounds). Bryce Brown added 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. 2005-born Zaccharie Risacher contributed to his team’s first victory in the series with 8 points and 4 rebounds.
Dusan Alimpijevic’s team tried to come back in contention by reducing the gap all the way to four points (60-56) close to the end of the third quarter, but it wasn’t enough after they suffered a 9-0 run from the French side. In the defeat, Angel Delgado had a monster double-double of 15 points and 16 boards.
Game 2 will be played on March 29 in the Sinan Erdem Arena of Istanbul, already sold out. Besiktas will need to come out with a victory if they want to fight for a ticket in Game 3, once again back in France. The red-and-white side, instead, will have the opportunity of getting to the BKT EuroCup Final.
PHOTO CREDIT: BKT EuroCup
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