By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Valencia blew a 20-point lead against ASVEL Villeurbanne on the road before ultimately escaping with a big 83 – 79 win to complete the double-game week in EuroLeague with two victories.
ASVEL trailed 25 – 45 near the end of the second period but rallied after the break and had a superb 17-0 run over five minutes to tie the score at 54. The French side even went up in the score 72 – 71 with four minutes to play.
“It was a tough, tough game,” said Valencia forward Xavi Lopez-Arostegui after finishing with 13 points, six assists and five rebounds. “I think we started very well, very focused on the game. But they came strong in the second half. They pushed the physicality on defense. We struggled a little bit in that third quarter, but I think we managed their physicality well in the last minutes, playing smart. So we are very happy.”
While Valencia went ahead 72 – 79 and seemed to have the win nearly secured with 1:07 remaining, Charles Kahudi and Nando De Colo hit back-to-back triples that put ASVEL at a 78-79 distance. Jonah Radebaugh and Klemen Prepelic kept their cool from the free-throw line with 4-4 in the last seconds to keep Valencia up until the final buzzer sounded in Astroballe.
Radebaugh finished with 13 points. Prepelic posted 11 points plus seven assists and Guillem Ferrando scored 11 for a Valencia side that was, once again, without such players as leading scorer Chris Jones, Jarod Harper and Jasiel Rivero, among others.
“We believed in the plan of the game the whole way, and finally we made the free throws and made good decisions to find the best options on offense,” said Valencia coach Alex Mumbru.
De Colo led ASVEL with 14 points and five assists. Kahudi had 13 points plus five rebounds. “You have to play two halves in a basketball game,” ASVEL coach TJ Parker said. “There are regrets all the time, but you have to play 40 minutes of basketball.”