By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
It was a dogfight from start to finish, until Zack LeDay with two big shots made things happen and Milan got the 75-66 road win over ASVEL.
LeDay finished the night with 17 points, Nikola Mirotic had 18 plus eight rebounds, and despite missing Fabien Causeur the Italians snapped their three-game losing streak and improved their record to 10-9, good enough for a tie at least in the Top10 of the standings.
“It’s great to win, especially in the beginning of the new year”, said Mirotic after the final buzzer adding: “It’s the only thing that matters right now for us. We are fighting for our lives, to be a playoffs team”.
Theo Maledon had 18 points and also seven turnovers, Nando De Colo was the top scorer of ASVEL with 22, still the French side dropped to 8-11 on a tie with Baskonia on the 14th spot of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings.
De Colo also surpassed Vassilis Spanoulis to become the EuroLeague’s all-time leader in made free throws by going a perfect 8 for 8. He now has 1.135 surpassing Spanoulis’s 1.131,
Zack for the win
After a tied first quarter at 19, Milan created some distance with a 6-1 run (25-20) and kept it until the end of the first half (36-32). However, the game was far from over.
ASVEL got a 49-44 in the third period, which again ended up tied at 51.
At this point, it was obvious that the game would be decided on details and came down in the last three minutes. Giampaolo Ricci with a three gave Milan a 64-58 lead. Maledon answered with two free throws (64-60).
With the win on the line, Zach Leday made two back-to-back threes in 21 seconds after a Maledon turnover and suddenly Milan for the first time in the night had a 10-point lead (70-60) which proved to be enough.
Photo credit: Olimpia Milan