Bourg wins on the wire in Cholet, Monaco recovers against Orléans
Monaco learned the lesson. Beaten in Nanterre the previous day (87-82), the players of the Principality completed a road trip of five games in eleven days away from the Rock on Saturday with a success (74-61) in Orléans in order to keep their second place in the Betclic Elite ranking.
Without the brilliance of its recent European victories but with the seriousness of a team (8 stray balls) which had rested Mike James, Will Thomas and Brock Motum in addition to the two injured, Léo Westermann and Donta Hall. The duo Alpha Diallo (17 points, 6 fouls caused) and Donatas Motiejunas (20 points, 10 rebounds in 17 minutes) was behind the final stall in the last quarter.
But Orleans fought in difficulty (34% success on shots), with a reduced workforce, without Marcus Paige (injured) and DJ Strawberry while Kyvon Davenport (ankle) had to give up after seven minutes. Led by twenty points after seventeen minutes (16-36), the Orleans reacted with an 18-0 before the break and held their own until the last five minutes before letting go and conceding a fourth defeat in a row. If Chris Warren suffered (8 points, 2 of 11 three-pointers), Malela Mutuale was the top scorer (15 points) for the OLB.
CJ Harris the bressan enforcer
Bourg-en-Bresse got out of the rut in Cholet in the very last seconds (81-79). Led throughout the second half, Laurent Legname’s players fell nine units behind before going ahead on an uncontested left penetration by CJ Harris (19 points) three seconds from the end.
Dominic Artis had two free throws in stride to equalize but missed the first before deliberately missing the second. On the rebound, the ball went into touch in favor of Cholet but the last trigger, far from the circle, was missed by Yoan Makoundou. This is the second match won in the very last moments of this week by the Bressans, who won on a buzzer shot, already from CJ Harris, in the Eurocup in Venice. And a happier ending than the match lost in the Championship last week at home against Champagne Basket after extra time (97-98).
Le Mans had a quieter evening at Fos-sur-Mer (66-57), even if it was necessary for the Sarthois to erase a difficult start to the match in attack at the promoted who led by twelve points (34-22) in the first half. By finding a little address and tightening the defense, Scott Bamforth (14 points) and his teammates went ahead in the fourth quarter and no longer loosened the grip, gave the Provençals 23 points scored after the break. Fos concedes a fifth affiliate defeat and shares 17th place with Cholet.