Strasbourg wins in OT to punch Last 32 ticket

Strasbourg prevailed in the extra session against CAI Zaragoza for the second time this season, this time on the road 71-73, to secure its place in the Last 32. Strasbourg improved to 6-1 in the first place of Group A, while CAI dropped to 2-5. The visitors used a big run at the start of the game to go in front, and they controlled the game until CAI caught up in the third quarter. Teams traded leads, and Strasbourg used a 2-11 fourth quarter run to take 55-62 lead, but Stevan Jelovac rallied CAI again, and tied the score at 66-66 to force overtime in which Ali Traore scored 5 of his 17 points for Strasbourg, including what proved to be a game winner in the final minute. Traore also pulled down 9 rebounds, while Louis Campbell scored 12 with 7 assists, and Antoine Diot also had 12 points in victory. Jelovac scored 14 for CAI, and Jason Robinson had 12, while Pedro llompart dished 10 assists.

Strasbourg stormed out of the gate, with Jeremy Leloup burying a triple to start the game. What followed was Diot nailing a pair of three-pointers, Traore scoring 4 points, and freshly joined Mickael Gelabale slamming it for 5-17. Diot hit his third triple, and fed Bangaly Fofana for 7-22, before triples from Jelovac and Robinson cut it to 13-22 after the first quarter. Joan Sastre and Henk Norel contributed on both ends of the floor, and combined to score 8 points to cut the deficit to 21-26 after 90 seconds of the second quarter, but Tadija Dragicevic hit from long range for Strasbourg , before Axel Toupane made a pair of basket to help make it 27-35. Rasko Katic scored twice in the late stage of the second quarter for CAI, but Gelabale and Traore secured 33-40 halftime lead.

Baskets were few and far between in the beginning of the third quarter, with Traore and Campbell scoring for the visitors, while Kevin Lisch and Pere Tomas held CAI close. Basket from Katic and a triple from Chris Goulding tied it at 46-46, and after Leloup answered with a three-pointer for the visitors, Robinson from close range and Marcus Landry from downtown gave the hosts 53-51. However, Campbell hit it from three-point range on the other end to help Strasbourg finish the third quarter with 5 consecutive points, before Leloup and Campbell each buried one in the first 4 minutes of the fourth for 55-62. Jelovac snapped a 2-11 run with a three-pointer, and added couple of free throws, too. CAI allowed only a single two-pointer in the last four and a half minutes of regulation, and Jelovac’s free throws with 39 seconds to go sent the game into overtime. In the extra session, baskets did not come easy. Llompart made a jumper for 70-67 with 2 minutes left, but in the remaining time Traore made couple of baskets, including a layup that essentially won it for the visitors.