By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
A week after his only scoreless game this season, Chris Jones dropped a EuroLeague career-high 27 points and hit the go-ahead floater as ASVEL Villeurbanne defeated Fenerbahce Beko 84 – 82 to get back on a winning track after four losses in a row.
“I feel great,” Jones said. “I feel like it is well-deserved by us, beating a good team. It is something we have to build on. We have been struggling in the last couple of games but I feel this is a great win for us and like I said, we just have to build on it. We deserved it! We practiced hard all week. It was embarrassing last week against Olympiacos but we wanted to come out and show the fire that we got in us, and we got the job done.”
Fenerbahce had won four consecutive games before facing ASVEL. They finish the first leg of the regular season with an 8 – 9 record while ASVEL moves to 9 – 8.
The loss wasn’t the worst part of the night for Fener that saw its leaders Nando De Colo and Jan Vesely exiting the game with injuries in the second and third period respectively. De Colo, broke his middle metacarpal, as Fener coach Sasha Djordjevic said after the match.
Achille Polonara scored a career-high-tying 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Dyshawn Pierre had 17 points and seven assists for Fener that closed halftime up 46 – 43 after a 0-10 run. Everything turned upside down after the break since it was ASVEL’s turn to score unanswered buckets, going ahead 54 – 46.
Fener tied the game at 70 with five minutes to play and got the lead thanks to two free throws by Pierre. ASVEL got back the advantage but Polonara scored six straight points to make it 81 – 81 with 50 seconds to play before Jones’ key basket for the 83 – 80.
A new start
ASVEL Villeurbanne coach TJ Parker wants to see his team fighting the same way in the next stretch of matches in order to retain a winning momentum.
“Up 6, we have them a chance to come back and had a couple of mistakes on defense, but at the end of the day, with a win, is a good rebound from Olympiacos and that is how we are going to remember it,” Parker said. “We have three home games. Now, we have holidays tomorrow and after that, we have Limoges [in the French League] and Bayern, and we have to show the same spirit.
“It was a good win,” Parker added. ” We needed it. Losing five games in a row is not easy. Being a lot on road in December wasn’t easy, so I think the time we had not playing Nanterre [in the French League] on Sunday, I think it helped us. We got back together, practiced and as you could see, we had much more energy and we fought until the end. We didn’t want to give this game away.”
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball