By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid held on to escape from the Astroballe with a much-needed 74-71 victory over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in Round 31 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague to improve to an 18-13 record in the final turn of the regular season.
After an intense battle in the second half, Alberto Abalde stepped up with a clutch-like three with 53 seconds remaining on the clock to push Real to a six-point advantage. Following a few intense players, Norris Cole made it a one-point game again with a pair of free throws, but Trey Thompkins had the final say for the visitors.
Thompkins paced all scorers for Pablo Laso’s squad with 13 points, Nicolas Laprovittola tapped 12 and Abalde added 11 points, while Usman Garuba finished the game with 9 points and 8 rebounds. With this win, Real leaves back a two-game losing streak and remains strong in the playoffs race.
.So happy for the victory, knowing we had more or less control of the game… Three finals to go for sure. Right now we’re only thinking about the next one. Still a lot of teams involved, but we’ve got to try to look for our spot”, said coach Laso after the game.
ASVEL fought hard but couldn’t bounce back from its losing streak, as they’ve slipped their fourth straight game to fall to a 12-18 record.
Cole paced the efforts of the hosts with 18 points, Guerschon Yabusele and David Lighty had 13 points each and Antoine Diot tapped 12 points and 5 assists.