Paris (AFP)
Undefeated at home in four Euroleague games, Villeurbanne recorded his first away win, winning on the floor of Etoile Rouge in Belgrade 74-72 after a five-minute extension, on behalf of 8th day, Friday night.
The Villeurbannais have five wins, four home wins and one away from their base at the Astroballe, against three defeats, a positive result for their first season in the queen competition of basketball continental.
They are firmly placed in 8th place (out of 18) in the standings, tied with Real Madrid.
And yet, Asvel has not prepared in the best conditions this European meeting, with an express trip for half of the team in Texas, party to celebrate President Tony Parker in San Antonio, including the mythical shirt N.9 Spurs was removed Monday night.
Returning to Euroleague business on Friday night, Charles Kahudi's team-mates made the race behind the score throughout the match, penalized by a big technical waste, symbolized by their 21 losses of balls against only 12 for Belgrade.
But they dominated the debates inside the racket, ubiquitous rebound (42 against 35), which allowed them to stay in touch, never charging more than 10 points behind the Red Star.
Led for 39 minutes, it was on two free throws of his best scorer of the evening, Livio Jean-Charles (20 points) that they equaled 15 seconds from the end of the fourth quarter to snatch another 5 minutes.
And it's Edwin Jackson on a two-point basket that allowed the Asvel to finally take the lead of the game (69-67) in the middle of the overtime and then resist the Serbs.
After a trip to Bourg-en-Bresse Sunday for the 9th day of the French Championship (where they have not yet lost), Asvel will receive the Efes Turks, finalists of the Euroleague 2019, Tuesday night at Astroballe.
© 2019 AFP