By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Norris Cole scored six out of his season-high 22 points in the last two minutes of the game as ASVEL Villeurbanne beat Crvena Zvezda 81 – 78 on the road to capture its third straight EuroLeague win.
Cole made the go-ahead basket for the 78 – 79 with 1:21 remaining and after consecutive failed attempts by Red Star, drained a pair of free throws to put ASVEL up 78 – 81 with five seconds to play. On the other end, Jordan Loyd missed the game-tying attempts from beyond the arc.
“It was a tough game, it was a competitive game,” Cole said. “They were a very physical team, which we expected. But we were up for the challenge. It’s fun to play in games like that where two teams are out there going at it. It’s good competition and I enjoy those kinds of games.
Crvena Zvezda had come back from a 15-point deficit to take a lead in the beginning of the fourth period and was up 72 – 68 after a 3-pointer by Ognjen Dobric with four minutes to play. Amine Noua hit a triple and then Cole scored for a 0-5 run that gave ASVEL the advantage again as the game was approaching a thrilling finale.
Dobric (17 points) and Corey Walden (17 points) led Red Star’s scorers. The Serbian side, that was minus forward Johnny O’ Bryant, suffered its fourth consecutive loss and dropped to 7 – 16.
Antoine Diot added 14 points on 4-4 triples for ASVEL while Noua scored 12.
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball