By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
ASVEL Villeurbanne blew an 18-point lead in the fourth period against Anadolu Efes before getting an 84 – 80 win and returning to EuroLeague victories. While the second-to-last French side improved to 7 – 22 Efes dropped to 12 – 7, remaining out of the Play-In zone.
Paris Lee hit a corner 3-pointer for just his second basket in the game with five seconds remaining to secure the win for ASVEL. Rodrigue Beaubois had put Efes at a one-point distance after stealing the ball on the inbounds pass and drilling a triple with 26 seconds to play, following a layup by Shane Larkin. This sequence capped a comeback from down 72 – 54 early in the fourth period for the visiting side.
“We’re feeling better and better. I think we got a great feel from the arena. We keep moving forward and that’s the most important thing,” ASVEL leading scorer (21 points, six rebounds) Luwawu-Cabarrot said. “We stayed together,” They came close together. We stuck to our game plan the whole game. It was a great win. Great also for the upcoming games. I’m very happy.”
DeShaun Thomas added 20 points for ASVEL in scoring. Nando De Colo dished out nine assists, including the pass to Lee for the decisive triple. He also had five points.
“We want to prove we belong in the EuroLeague”
“Ι want us to prove [that we belong in the EuroLeague] every day,” ASVEL coach Pierric Poupet said. He’s now 4 – 6 since he took over the team in January. “But what people see is only the games. My guys and us the coaching staff, we also have to prove. We all have to prove that ASVEL can be a EuroLeague team. We have made a good back bouncing back since January but we need to get more wins.”
Will Clyburn had 16 points (5 out of 17 from the field) and six rebounds for Efes. Darius Thompson scored 15.
“We had great energy in the fourth quarter, something that we should’ve done in the whole game, not when we were down by so many points,” Efes coach Tomislav Mijatovic said. “The loss hurts but we aren’t going to give up on our goal. We aren’t going to give up on our next game. We’re going to keep building and hopefully winning.”