2019-20Regular SeasonRound 24
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 79
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 65
February 06, 2020 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 BUESA ARENA

Baskonia downs ASVEL at home

KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz bested LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 79-65 at Fernando Buesa Arena on Thursday. Both teams now have 9-15 records in the standings. Toko Shengelia led the winners with 15 points and 9 rebounds. Zoran Dragic and Shavon Shields each added 12 points and Semaj Christon tallied 11 points and 10 assists for Baskonia. Adreian Payne paced ASVEL with 16 points. Baskonia led 39-37 at halftime before Christon and Shengelia took over after the break, leading the hosts to a 60-46 cushion late in the third quarter and little changed after that.

Shengelia got Baskonia going with a layup and Shields added a turnaround jumper for a 4-0 lead. ASVEL also got its frontcourt involved, as Payne and Tonye Jekiri tied the game at 6-6. Michael Eric scored twice in the paint in an 8-0 run in which Shengelia and Christon added respective layups for a 14-6 Baskonia lead. Antoine Diot and Shengelia traded three-pointers before Shields gave his team an 18-10 lead. Shengelia scored again, but a buzzer-beating corner triple by Payne brought ASVEL within 20-13 after 10 minutes. Payne dunked early in the second quarter and Ismail Bako erased Youssoupha Fall's put-back slam with a close basket for a 22-17 score. Fall dunked again with authority but Payne singlehandedly brought ASVEL within 24-21. Maledon buried a three-pointer that capped a 0-7 run. Diop stepped up with a put-back layup. Matthew Strazel took over with a wild three-point play, but Nik Stauskas and Dragic kept the hosts ahead, 31-27. After Dragic struck from beyond the arc, Jekiri and Livio Jean-Charles brought the visitors within 35-33. Dragic remained unstoppable, but Maledon answered with an acrobatic layup-plus-foul, bringing ASVEL within 39-37 at halftime.

Bako took over with an alley-oop dunk immediately after the break. Shields rescued Baskonia with 5 unanswered points, but Payne struck again from downtown to make it 44-42. Christon banked in a floater and fed Matt Janning for a three-pointer that ignited the crowd at 49-42. David Lighty hit a stop-and-pop jumper, but Baskonia kept running its offense through Christon, who scored in penetration and found Shengelia for a big dunk. Eric scored down low to make it a double-digit game, 55-44. Christon bettered Jordan Taylor's floater with a three-pointer and then Shengelia added a driving layup that broke the game open, 60-46. Rihards Lomasz and Jean-Charles tried to change things for ASVEL, bringing the visitors within 62-51 after 30 minutes. Lighty followed a turnaround jumper with a layup to give the visitors hope, 62-55, early in the fourth quarter. Payne capped a 0-9 run from the foul line. Janning downed back-to-back triples for a 68-57 score with 7 minutes left. Shields swished a mid-range jumper and Christon added a driving layup that sealed the outcome, 72-57, midway through the fourth quarter. ASVEL never gave up, but Baskonia had cruised to a well-deserved win.

Pivotal performer

Zoran Dragic came off the bench and gave Baskonia the energy and know-how it needed to get a much-needed win. He finished the game with 12 points on 7-of-8 free-throw shooting and 6 fouls drawn for a PIR of 11 in less than 15 minutes on the court.

Game-changing moment

Baskonia led 44-42, but found a new go-to guy in Christon, who scored a couple of baskets, fed Janning for a three-pointer and found Shengelia for a big dunk. Christon soon added a three-pointer in a 16-4 run that Shengelia capped with a layup. Baskonia went on to control the game until the final buzzer.

Stellar stat

Rebounds and three-point shots made the difference in this game. Baskonia hit 7-of-16 three-point shots (43.8%) and ASVEL also hit 7 shots from downtown, but in 24 attempts (29.2%). Baskonia outrebounded ASVEL 42-25, including 11 offensive boards.

Did you notice?

It was ASVEL's first visit to Fernando Buesa Arena since 2003. ASVEL has not been able to beat Baskonia in EuroLeague action, registering losses in 2001, 2003 and now 2020. It managed to defeat Baskonia in the 1985-86 Korac Cup. ASVEL downed Baskonia 88-98 at Polideportivo de Mendizorroza on October 30, 1985, behind 32 points from Norris Bell.

Next game:

Both teams return to EuroLeague action in two weeks, on Thursday, February 20. Baskonia hosts Zalgiris Kaunas, and ASVEL visits Olympiacos Piraeus.

Tornike Shengelia - KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz - EB19
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: JOVCIC, MILIVOJE; PASTUSIAK, PIOTR; PAPAPETROU, PETROS
Attendance: 9549
By Quarter1234
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz20192317
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne13241414
End of Quarter1234
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz20396279
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne13375165
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 GONZALEZ, MIGUEL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6 CHRISTON, SEMAJ 31:19 11 4/9 1/2     2 2 11   1   1 3 2 15
11 JANNING, MATT 28:37 10 0/2 3/6 1/1 1 4 5 2   3     2 1 8
12 DIOP, ILIMANE 15:49 5 2/4 0/1 1/2 1 1 2 1   1     3 1 1
17 GARCIA, SERGI 7:50           2 2     1         1
19 FALL, YOUSSOUPHA 4:24 4 2/2     1 1 2     1     3 1 3
22 STAUSKAS, NIK 5:24 2     2/2         1         1 4
23 SHENGELIA, TORNIKE 28:18 15 5/10 1/1 2/4 3 6 9 2   3     4 3 15
30 DRAGIC, ZORAN 14:14 12 1/2 1/4 7/8   1 1     1     2 6 11
31 SHIELDS, SHAVON 32:24 12 3/3 1/1 3/4 1 2 3     2     2 5 15
33 POLONARA, ACHILLE 12:00   0/1 0/1     4 4     1         1
50 ERIC, MICHAEL 19:41 8 4/9     3 2 5 1 3     2 3   7
Team           1 6 7               7
Totals 200:00 79 21/42 7/16 16/21 11 31 42 17 4 14 0 3 22 20 88
        50% 43.8% 76.2%
Head coach: IVANOVIC, DUSKO
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
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 TAYLOR, JORDAN 17:00 2 1/1 0/1         3   2     1 3 4
3 JEKIRI, TONYE 18:45 6 2/7   2/2   5 5     2     2 1 3
6 MALEDON, THEO 23:16 9 2/5 1/3 2/3 1 1 2 3   2     3 6 9
9 LOMAZS, RIHARDS 12:44 6 0/1 1/2 3/4           2     1 2 2
11 GALLIOU, CHARLES 10:33     0/3                   1   -4
17 JEAN-CHARLES, LIVIO 17:26 6 1/2 1/1 1/1 1 3 4     3 1   2 2 7
19 DIOT, ANTOINE 19:39 3 0/3 1/5   1   1 3         2 1 -1
21 BAKO, ISMAEL 18:45 5 2/4   1/2 1 3 4 1 1   2   3 1 8
23 LIGHTY, DAVID 21:08 6 3/5 0/3     2 2 1         2 2 4
32 STRAZEL, MATTHEW 17:43 6 1/2 1/3 1/1       3   1     1 2 6
33 PAYNE, ADREIAN 23:01 16 3/4 2/3 4/4 1 2 3 1   1     3 2 16
Team           2 2 4               4
Totals 200:00 65 15/34 7/24 14/17 7 18 25 15 1 13 3 0 21 22 58
        44.1% 29.2% 82.4%
Head coach: MITROVIC, ZVEZDAN

Head Coaches

IVANOVIC, DUSKO
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz

"We had a very serious game, especially on defense. I think we had patience in offense and played a little bit slowly, but I think we did much better than in games before. This team will fight for every game."

"It may be the most serious, all-around game that we played until now. We made mistakes, but knew what we wanted on defense and offense. We worked well on both sides on the floor but above all, we knew to match their toughness, to match the defense ASVEL is playing, which is their game. They play with a lot of contact going into the passing lanes, and I believe that in the end, we managed to play good offense against them. We also played good defense, because they are a team that plays a lot of one-on-one and pick-and-roll situations, always choosing the worst defender to attack him. Sergi [Garcia] rushed things a little bit, but he is going to play well, he is a player that will give us a lot, but at this moment, he has to calm down a little bit. Semaj Christon played well, controlling well the game rhythm. He may need to play a little bit faster because we need that, but he played well until now. Both Christon and Dragic gave us good things, and I hope that, in the next games, they give us more."

MITROVIC, ZVEZDAN
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"Congratulations to Baskonia and Coach Dusko Ivanovic. I think that the game was interesting. I am really okay with the way my team played, I think we played well. We missed some shots, but played with good energy. Maybe it sounds crazy but my team played at a good level tonight. Unfortunately, of course, we played against a better team and for me, the key moment was when we played some zone defense and forgot about their best shooter, Janning, who hit open threes and it was like 'click'. One more time, congratulations. We had some game plan, but when you go game by game and you have two days, you cannot prepare anything. We just played the game, the same as Baskonia. We cannot talk about a serious preparation for the game. For me, I know what I have in my team and our advantages are putting pressure on defense, some fake defenses to protect the big guys... but Baskonia is one of the best rebounding teams and proved it, they have great guys. This gave us a good result against Bayern Munich - home game, of course - but tonight, we made some effort, we progressed, but it is very, very difficult. To have a good result against a team like Baskonia, you need to shoot better. You cannot shoot around 30% (3FG) and need to score some tough shots, but also the open shots. This was the key to why there was a huge difference in the final result."

Players

SHENGELIA, TORNIKE
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"I think it is very obvious. We have been losing many games and now that we have the advantage of playing many games at home, we want to get the job done and get some more wins on our home court. Today we did it, and I am happy for my team and my coaches and for the fans in the city. When there is life, there is hope. We are still fighting, we are still alive and nobody gives up here. We have to fight until the end."
CHRISTON, SEMAJ
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"It feels good. I think we had some good luck tonight. We needed it, though, it was a big win for us just to keep our energy up and keep thinking that we can win games. Our fight tonight gave us more energy and we got the win. Like I said, we needed it. Every game we have is to put us in the right position for the playoffs, just to compete. Every game, we are trying to win a game and the most two [home] games are very important."
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