SLUC Nancy stun Bizkaia Bilbao Basket 87-73 to grab their first win in Euroleague
SLUC Nancy collected its first victory in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague by stunning Bizkaia Bilbao Basket 87-73 in the game played on Thursday night at the Palais Des Sports Jean Weille Arena.
Nancy will now be facing Fenerbahce Ulker in their next match whereas Bilbao will be heading to face Bennet Cantu.
The game was in equilibrium till 37 minutes; however a magnificent 15 point run in the last three minutes earned Nancy the game.
Nicolas Batum, the Portland Trail Blazers star, led the winning team with 26 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists including 11 for 12 shooting from free throw line. Adrien Moerman and Akin Akingbala supported Batum well, adding 15 and 14 points respectively. Akin missed a double-double by a whisker as he managed to pull out 9 rebounds too.
Nancy’s coach, Jean-Luc Monschau wall all praise for Nicolas Batum and added
"It was a tight and fierce game against a good European team and one of the best Spanish teams. We adapted our game technically and tactically. The odds were against us and we won it, supported by great fans. We can't just thank Nicolas Batum for having won the game by himself, especially in the last quarter, but we also have to give a warm thanks to the whole team."
Marko Banic marshalled the losing side with 16 points whereas Kosts Vasiliadis and Aaron Jackson also made valuable contributions adding 12 and 11 points respectively.
Aaron started the proceedings by scoring first points of the game through a driving layup in the second minute however it was countered immediately by Nicolas Batum, who also scored through a layup.
An impressive spinning move by Banic followed by another layup by Aaron provided Bizkaia an early 6-2 lead. Bilbao kept on extending the lead, however a three pointer by Nancy’s Pape Philippe Amagou in the dying seconds of the quarter slashed the deficit and at the end of the frame, Bilbao were leading by only 1 point 18-17.
Moussa Badiane started off with a dunk to give Nancy the lead in the starting minutes of second quarter; however it was neutralized by a three pointer from Kostas.
5 minutes into the quarter, both teams were levelled at 25 and that trend continued till the last minute, until Bizkaia managed to get ahead, 38-35, through a three pointer, again by Kostas. His effort received an immediate response in the shape of a three pointer as both teams went into the second half with scores tied at 35.
By the end of third quarter, Nancy had managed to get a three point lead 61-58 but the fate of the game had to be decided in the fourth and the last quarter.
The first 5 minutes of the last quarter were quite and Bizkaia managed to cut the lead at 66 all. What followed was a 4-0 spurt from Nancy, who took a 70-66 lead. Bizkaia struck back, but with nearly two and a half minutes to go, Nancy were still leading by 72-71.
That is when the onslaught commenced from Nancy in the form of a 15 point run, which took the game miles away from Bizkaia.
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