2020-21Top 16Round 6
Nanterre 92 88
Joventut Badalona 95
March 09, 2021 CET: 20:00
Local time: 20:00 MAURICE THOREZ

Joventut punches playoffs ticket

Joventut Badalona reached the EuroCup Quarterfinals with an 88-95 victory over Nanterre 92 at Maurice Thorez on Tuesday. Joventut finsihed second Group E with a 4-2 record and will face Virtus Segafredo Bologna in the next stage. Nanterre, which needed to win by at least 6 points to qualify, was eliminated from third place at 2-4. Ante Tomic led the winners with 18 points, Pau Ribas added 16 on 11-of-11 free throw shooting, Nenad Dimitrijevic scored 14 while Xabi Lopez-Arostegui had 13 for Joventut. Marcquise Reed led Nanterre with a career-high 27 points, Isaia Cordinier added 15 and Tyler Stone 11. Joventut was up 45-47 at halftime before Xabi Lopez-Arostegui led a 0-11 run that boosted the guests' margin to 47-61, and Joventut kept full control of the situation until the final buzzer.

Reed needed just 4 seconds to get Nanterre going with a layup. Cordinier scored in penetration and Chris Warren struck from downtown for a 7-2 score. Tomic scored around the basket and Vladimir Brodziansky downed a triple, but Reed and Cordinier kept Nanterre ahead, 12-7. Stone took over with a three-point play and Cordinier added a reverse layup, but Tomic and Brodziansky brought Joventut within 17-13. Ivan Fevrier and Stone each buried a three-pointer for a 25-17 Nanterre margin. Tomic followed a layup and a tip-in, getting help from Ribas to bring Joventut within 29-26 after 10 minutes. Dimtrijevic hit a running jumper early in the second quarter and Ribas bettered Cordinier's dunk with a triple that tied it, 31-31. Reed struck twice from beyond the arc and got help from Cordinier for a 39-35 Nanterre lead. Joventut found a go-to guy in Dimitrijevic, who scored twice around the basket and added a jumper in a 2-12 run in which Conor Morgan and Ferran Bassas each hit a triple to put Joventut ahead, 41-47. Reed downed a mid-range jumper and beat the buzzer with a floater to fix the halftime score at 45-47.

Bassas sank a triple soon after the break. Warren hit a baseline jumper, but Lopez-Arostegui followed a layup-plus-foul with a three-pointer in an 0-11 run that Albert Ventura capped with his a shot from beyond the arc to break the game open, 47-61. Johnny Berhanemeskel stepped up with a driving layup, but Bassas and Dimitrijevic kept Joventut way ahead, 50-64. Alpha Kaba, Cordinier and Berhanemeskel brought Nanterre a bit closer, 59-70, after 30 minutes. Kaba hit a jump hook early in the fourth quarter and Nikola Rebic added a triple to make it 64-70. Morgan and Berhanemeskel joined the three-point shootout. Dimitrijevic added a jumper and a floater for a 67-77 Joventut lead. Rebic swished a step-back jumper that Tomic matched with a jump hook. Kaba scored again and Rebic buried a three-pointer that gave Nanterre hope, 74-79, with over 4 minutes left. Reed's acrobatic three-point play got the hosts even closer, 80-84, with 1:13 left. Ribas sealed the outcome from the foul line.

Pivotal performer

Ante Tomic had 14 points in the first quarter when Joventut struggled to keep up with Nanterre's scoring pace. Tomic finished the game with 18 points on 9-of-12 two-point shooting plus 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal for a PIR of 17 - all in less than 22 minutes on the floor.

Game-changing moment

Nanterre led 39-35 late in the first half, but Joventut found a go-to guy to take off. Neno Dimitrijevic scored in penetration and followed Conor Morgan's triple with a jumper. Dimitrijevic scored again and Ferran Bassas struck from downtown to put Joventut ahead for good, 41-47, after a 2-12 run.

Stellar stat

Two-point shot accuracy made the difference in this game. Joventut made 24 of 36 two-pointers (66.7%). Nanterre took more two-point shots (40) and scored fewer (21) for a 52.5% percentage. Joventut had 20 assists and only 10 turnovers.

Did you know?

Joventut has made it to the EuroCup Quarterfinals for the first time since the 2007-08 season. That team, led by Rudy Fernandez, Ricky Rubio and Demond Mallet, went on to lift the trophy after downing Akasvayu Girona 54-79 in the championship game in Turin, Italy.

Next game

Joventut faces Virtus Segafredo Bologna in the EuroCup Quarterfinals. Virtus hosts Game 1 of the best-of-three series on Tuesday, March 23. Nanterre 92 has been eliminated from the 2020-21 7DAYS EuroCup.

Xabi Lopez-Arostegui - Joventut Badalona (photo Nanterre - Claire Macel) - EC20
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: CHRISTODOULOU, CHRISTOS; HALLIKO, AARE; RADOJKOVIC, JOSIP
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Nanterre 9229161429
Joventut Badalona26212325
End of Quarter1234
Nanterre 9229455988
Joventut Badalona26477095
Nanterre 92
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 REED, MARCQUISE 25:54 27 8/12 2/3 5/5 1   1 2 2 2     4 5 26
1 BERHANEMESKEL , JOHNNY 12:34 8 1/2 2/4     1 1 1   1         6
3 FORTAS, FLORIAN 0:14     0/1                   2   -3
7 FEVRIER, IVAN 13:14 3   1/3     1 1     3     2   -3
8 BOUQUET, DAMIEN 13:42   0/1       1 1 2         2    
10 CORDINIER, ISAIA 37:41 15 5/8 1/2 2/3 1 4 5 7   1 1   5 5 22
11 KABA, ALPHA 14:05 9 3/3   3/5 2 3 5     1     3 4 12
14 CONKLIN, BRIAN 15:37 2 1/4     5   5 2         2 1 5
16 EYANGO-DINGO, SAMUEL 0:39           1 1               1
33 STONE, TYLER 26:00 11 1/7 2/5 3/5 1 5 6 1 1 1     1 4 10
44 REBIC, NIKOLA 18:02 8 1/1 2/6           1 1   1 2 3 4
69 WARREN, CHRIS 22:18 5 1/2 1/2     1 1 5 1 1   1 3   5
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 88 21/40 11/26 13/18 11 19 30 20 5 11 1 2 26 22 88
        52.5% 42.3% 72.2%
Head coach: DONNADIEU, PASCAL
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Joventut Badalona
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 DIMITRIJEVIC, NENAD 17:46 14 7/7       2 2 2   1     1 1 17
1 DAWSON, SHAWN 0:03                              
4 RIBAS, PAU 20:57 16 1/1 1/3 11/11   4 4 6 1 1     2 5 27
6 LOPEZ-AROSTEGUI, XABI 20:40 13 2/3 2/6 3/3 1 6 7 2 1     1 3 3 17
9 MORGAN, CONOR 18:30 8 1/3 2/5   1 3 4     1     3 1 4
10 BRODZIANSKY, VLADIMIR 21:30 7 1/4 1/3 2/2   3 3 1   1     2 4 7
13 PARRADO, ARNAU 0:25   0/1                     1   -2
14 VENTURA, ALBERT 26:32 5   1/2 2/4 1   1 1 2   1   2 3 8
20 BASSAS, FERRAN 26:14 8 0/1 2/3 2/4 1 2 3 4   2 1   1 3 12
35 BIRGANDER, SIMON 16:50 6 3/4     1 1 2 1         2 2 8
44 PARRA, JOEL 8:39     0/1     2 2           1 1 1
88 TOMIC, ANTE 21:54 18 9/12   0/1 4 1 5 3 1 4     4 2 17
Team             3 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 95 24/36 9/23 20/25 9 27 36 20 5 11 2 1 22 25 118
        66.7% 39.1% 80%
Head coach: DURAN, CARLES

Head Coaches

DONNADIEU, PASCAL
Nanterre 92
"There is, of course, a lot of disappointment when you leave the competition this way. It is disappointing but, overall, getting to the Top 16 and performing in the Top 16 and being alive in this last game was actually satisfactory. Overall, this competition was a positive one, especially with a group this young."
DURAN, CARLES
Joventut Badalona

"Sometimes we didn't play good one-on-one defense, but I think we played very well on offense and all players passed the ball very well. I am very happy for the club, for the team. It is a great goal [being in the playoffs]. And second, Virtus is the favorite because they finished in the first position in their group. But my team plays hard and will surely fight against them."

"I think the key to this game is that we played very good defense in the second and third quarters. In the first quarter, we had a problem against Stone in the '5' position, but I think my team played very well on offense, sharing the ball. I am very happy for my players."

Players

CORDINIER, ISAIA
Nanterre 92
"We are very disappointed with the result. I think we played well, but their run in the third quarter, maybe we had to manage it better. Now it is done. It is tough, but we have to get our head up and get back to work, to play the French League now."
TOMIC, ANTE
Joventut Badalona
"It was a very important game for us. We knew that this game would give us the opportunity to play in the playoffs, which is a great, great achievement for this club and for most of the players here, even for me, it is my first time in the top eight. It is a great achievement for the club and for the guys. From the start, we had some problems in the first quarter. Later on, we played a much better game on defense. In the end, a very important win for us. We knew that they would try something different. We had time to adjust and do some changes in our game, so I think we did okay."
RIBAS, PAU
Joventut Badalona
"We had one chance [against Unicaja] that we blew up and the team was ready for this game. We improved some things, especially in the second half, our defense was much better than in the first half. I think we played a really good game and deserve [to be in the playoffs] after a very good season in the EuroCup. We go for the next chapter. We had the bad luck to play against one of the top teams in the EuroCup [Virtus Segafredo Bologna]. They didn't lose any game and it is going to be a tough series, but it will be tough for them, too, because we have no pressure. We are a young team with a lot of ambition, and we will try to get the win to Badalona."