By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
The first-ever meeting of French teams in the Basketball Champions League saw SIG Strasbourg prevail, 85-72, over JDA Dijon in Palais des Sports Jean-Michel Geoffroy Wednesday.
The top scorer pacing the triumph, Marcus Keene poured 22 points, including nine in the fourth quarter of the Round of 16 Gameday 2 contest. Adding seven assists and six rebounds, the former player of Central Michigan and Youngstown State with plenty of stops all around Europe, reinforced his status as a leading star for Strasbourg in his first Champions League campaign.
Team captain DeAndre Lansdowne threw in 18 more points and so did Paul Lacombe to go with seven assists and six rebounds for a game-high efficiency rating of 30. Bodian Massa with 14 points tied his season-high.
Both sides struggled to connect from beyond the arc, instead focusing inside with a combined total of 98 points recorded in the paint. Favored by the situation, Strasbourg notched a fourth consecutive win across all competitions and improved to 2-0 in Group I, in a quick turnaround from jumping to 10-9 in Betclic Elite LNB Pro A,
Sitting at 13-6 in the domestic league, La Jeanne fell to 1-1 in the four-team group and in a tie with Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem, the winner of the Israeli matchup of the group. Holding the lead for only six minutes, failing to complete a comeback from an early double-digit deficit, and then falling again into a similar hole down the stretch.
With his first bucket, David Holston passed Miro Bilan to rank third on the all-time scoring list of the Champions League and went on for a team-high 19 points. But the veteran point guard, a former standout of Chicago State, was kept quiet through the last ten minutes. Gavin Ware and Gregor Hrovat ended up with 13 points each.
Among the January MVP candidates listed on the Team of the Month, Markis McDuffie was ejected following a scuffle opposite Rodions Kurucs with 5:25 left in the first quarter. A disappointing early exit with two points to his name. As expected, injured Chase Simon was not available to play in the all-French affair.
The winning side shared bad news before the game ruling out Jean-Baptiste Maille for the remainder of the 2022-23 season with an ACL rupture in his left knee. The 29-year-old French guard joined Matt Mitchell and Leo Cavaliere on Luca Banchi’s injury list. Newcomer Martin Peterka tallied two points, two assists, two rebounds, and one steal reintroducing himself to the BCL.
Postgame press conference
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League