Strasbourg still perfect at home after beating Reggio Emilia

Strasbourg fended off a late comeback attempt by Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia to remain perfect at home in Group A with a 74-66 win. Strasbourg improved to 7-1 and clinched one of the top two spots in the group. Ali Traore led the winners with 12 points and Bangaly Fofana had 10 points, while Axel Toupane added 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals in the win. Reggio Emilia dropped to 2-6 without a road win this season despite 15 points from Achille Polonara, while Donell Taylor had 14 and Drake Diener scored 11 points.

The home team jumped ahead 4-0 before Reggio Emilia took its first lead 4-5 on Diener’s three. Another 4 straight points by Strasbourg were followed by a three from Andrea Cinciarini to make it 8-8. After a Louis Campbell free throw, the lead went back and forth seven times – twice each by Zaragoza’s Paul Lacombe and Polonara, the latter whose layup left the guests up 16-17 after 10 minutes. Tadija Dragicevic gave Strasbourg back the lead but Polonara knocked down two three-pointers for an 18-23 lead. That was the biggest lead the rest of the first half as the hosts eventually evened the game again at 25-25 on a Dragicevic long ball. Campbell gave Strasbourg the lead 29-27 but Diener and Polonara gave the guests a 31-34 advantage. There were three more lead changes in the final minute of the first half, which had Strasbourg leading 37-36 going into the break.

Taylor evened the game at 39-39 early in the third quarter but the hosts began to take over the game. Traore’s layup started a 12-3 run over the next five minutes with both Traore and Matt Howard scoring four points while the guests made just three free throws as the lead swelled to 51-42. Polonara knocked down a three-pointer to pull Reggio Emilia to within 51-47. But Anthony Dobbins and Antoine Diot both hit three-balls and the lead was 59-50 after 30 minutes. Reggio Emilia failed to score in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter and Toupane hit a three-pointer in Strasbourg’s 7-0 start to the period for a 66-50 lead. Diener and Ojars Silins tried to get the guests back into the game and got the gap to 70-58 with five minutes left. And then teenager Federico Mussini drained two three-pointers to make it a 72-66 game with 95 seconds to play. After both sides failed to score, Diot made 2 free throws with 25 seconds left to ice the game.