The Metropolitans 92, who have the advantage of the field in this series in the best of five games, will have the opportunity to double the bet on Tuesday, still at home but a few kilometers from the Hauts-de-Seine since the game has been relocated to Bercy.
Sunday in Levallois, they dominated from start to finish Villeurbannais who suffered from the absence of their master to play Nando De Colo, injured.
And were handicapped by the three fouls received at the end of the first period by their pivot Youssoupha Fall.
The better-oiled Mets 92 led by six at the break (38-32) before taking off between the end of the third quarter and the middle of the final period.
An award-winning shot by Devante Jones five minutes from the siren gave them a twelve-point lead (68-56), erased by Asvel 1 min 30 sec later thanks to a three-pointer by Jonah Matthews (70-61), one of the few Villeurbannais to have set the target from long distance (3/5 for him, 9/26 for Asvel).
The Tony Parker-led club even came back to seven units with 51 seconds left at the buzzer (70-63), but a game-winning shot from Mets captain Lahou Konaté twenty seconds later dashed their hopes of victory.
Wembanyama (19 years old, 2.21m), who is playing his last league games before leaving for the NBA, set the tone for his game in the first 30 seconds by countering Fall and then stealing a rebound.
He finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks (but also 5 loose balls) for a rating of 24.
And his back-to-back game-winning shots late in the third quarter and early in the fourth helped the Mets take off.
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