On Sunday, Sasa Obradovic's men played their fourth game in just five days, following wins in the Euroleague against Olympiakos on Wednesday (92-72), Vitoria on Friday (78-68) and in the quarters of the Cup de France against Bourg-en-Bresse on Saturday (74-65).

After dominating the meeting, and having increased their lead to 17 points in the middle of the third quarter (47-30, 26th), the teammates of Mike James, aligned Sunday by Obradovic, ended up gradually giving way.

They snatched the extension by Donta Hall two seconds from the buzzer (70-70), but the SIG was fresher and made the difference in the additional five minutes (16-3).

Two Elite leaders out

Over this weekend, the Strasbourg residents thus offered themselves the scalp of the two leaders of the French championship, since the men of Lassi Tuovi had dominated Boulogne-Levallois on Saturday at the end of the afternoon in the quarter-finals.

As against the Metropolitans 92, Strasbourg again produced a great collective performance, with five players at more than 10 points, the prize going to Deandre Lansdowne with 16 points, just ahead of Jordan Howard's 15 points.

In the final on Saturday April 23 at Paris-Bercy, the SIG will face Pau-Orthez, who barely overcame Gravelines 88 to 85, who had beaten Villeurbanne the day before but much more limited in the rotation with only eight players on the score sheet. .

In a relatively balanced meeting for just over two quarters, Pau-Orthez made the difference during the third quarter (74-57, 30th), but got a big scare at the end of the game, when the Northerners returned to two points 26 seconds from the buzzer (86-84).

Gregor Hrovat, the game's top scorer with 19 points, then scored his two free throws to put his Pau-Orthez team away (88-84) five seconds from the end, despite Vitalis Chikoko's technical fault. , which could have cost the Elan dearly.

Strasbourg will have the opportunity to put its name on the winners' list for the event for the third time after 2015 and 2018.

For its part, Elan Béarnais has not played in the final of the Coupe de France since its third title in 2007, won against Nanterre (which was playing at the time in ProB).

The final of the Women's French Cup will also be played on April 23 and will pit Bourges against Basket Landes.

© 2022 AFP