Paris (AFP)

The beautiful series of Asvel in the Euroleague ended Tuesday evening in Kaunas.

The Villeurbanne lost 85 to 75 against the Lithuanians of Zalgiris Kaunas and see the slim hope of snagging one of the eight tickets for the play-offs fade away.

With this setback, Villeurbanne is stuck with 12 wins (for 15 losses) seven games from the end of the regular season.

The players of TJ Parker, who have fully revived thanks to a series of six consecutive victories, have three fewer successes on the eighth, last qualified for the play-offs, currently the Fenerbahçe.

The Stambouliotes (15 wins, 11 losses) move to Milan on Wednesday night, before heading to the Astroballe in Villeurbanne on Friday night for a crucial match in the race for eighth place and the last ticket to the quarter-finals of the queen competition of European basketball.

For his part, Kaunas remains fully in the game for the top-8, with this 15th success of the season (for 12 losses).

Tuesday in Kaunas, Charles Kahudi's teammates managed two very solid first quarter-times defensively, in line with their demonstration last week in the Palau Blaugrana of FC Barcelona, ​​leader of the Euroleague beaten 76-69 four years ago days.

At the break, despite a good ten loss of balls, Asvel returned to the locker room with a two-point lead (42-40), but totally cracked in the third quarter (27-15), a hole air that was fatal to him.

As in the first leg at the Astroballe, it was the Lithuanian winger of Zalgiris Marius Grigonis (26) who hurt the Villeurbannais, with 21 points on the clock, while the French international interior Joffrey Lauvergne (29 years old) ), who arrived in Lithuania this summer, finished the game with 18 points and six rebounds.

The 17 points of Guerschon Yabusele, Asvel's top scorer against Kaunas, were not enough, while the outside marksmanship was lacking in Villeurbanne (8/25).

The reigning French champions (2019), who are due to obtain their permanent Euroleague license in the coming weeks, have started an extremely busy month of March, with eleven matches on the program: six in the Euroleague, four in the French league and one in French Cup.

After the reception of Fenerbahçe on Friday, Asvel will receive Dijon four days later, for a poster of the French Elite.

© 2021 AFP