Villeurbanne (AFP)
Villeurbanne returned to victory in the Euroleague by dominating Milan 89 to 82 on Friday at the Astroballe.
Asvel, who remained on four losses in a row, knew how to take advantage of the arrival of the Milanese, themselves in a bad series, now of four failures, to revive themselves.
It was the sixth victory in thirteen days for the Villeurbannais, who joined the Spaniards of Vitoria in 9th place, just behind the qualification area for the play-offs.
Dominated in the first half (38-45) by the team of Ettore Messina, the trainer four times European champion (with Bologna and Moscow), Villeurbanne turned the situation in the third quarter, won 32 to 16. A moment at the head of 13 points, the Villeurbannais pushed back the last effort of the Milanese, returned to 4 lengths 5 min from the end.
"Everyone raised their voice. We knew they were actionable. We needed a victory and we got it in the right way," said Charles Kahudi at the BeIN Sports microphone.
The Americans David Lighty and Jordan Taylor were the great architects of the victory with 19 and 18 points. Nigerian Tonye Jekiri took 11 rebounds for Asvel.
The Milanese relied on their two veterans, the Spanish leader Sergio Rodriguez and the Argentine interior Luis Scola (13 and 14 points).
The French champions will have two games to play next week, in Barcelona, then at home against Alba Berlin.
© 2019 AFP