Paris Levallois holds off PGE Turow Zgorzelec

Paris Levallois held off PGE Turow Zgorzelec for a 74-71 in the first leg of the team’s two-game total points Eurocup Eighthfinals series on Tuesday in the French capital. The visitors led early in the fourth quarter and the score was tied three times before Paris pushed ahead for good for the narrow victory. Game 2 is next week in Poland. Giovan Oniangue paced the hosts with 12 points, Blake Schilb scored 11 and Sharrod Ford 10. Mardy Collins shined with 15 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists for Turow. Damian Kulig added 12 points and 9 rebounds, while Michal Chylinski scored 11 and Vlad Moldoveanu 10. Turow was plagued by poor shooting from the foul line (15 of 27, 55.5%) and behind the arc (6 of 31, 19.4%), though Paris was not much better (12 of 18 free throws, 66.7%; 6 of 24 threes, 25%).

Oniangue scored first and Landing Sane struck from downtown to give Paris a 5-0 start. Kulig scored Turow’s first basket before Oniangue added a triple. Collins scored twice for the visitors setting the stage for Kulig’s free throw to give Turow its first lead, 10-11. Tonyl Taylor and Aleksandr Czyz each split free throws to put the visitors up 3. Michel Jean-Baptiste-Adolphe tied the game from the line, but Chris Wright’s slam and a Kulig free throw made it 17-19 after 10 minutes. Dionte Christmas was fouled shooting a 3 and made the resulting free throws to put Paris ahead. He added a pair of triples and Jean-Baptiste-Adolphe scored inside to boost the hosts to 30-25. Wright and Collins kept Turow close. And Chylinski drained a three to put the visitors up 32-33. However Louis Labeyrie answered with a three and Ford ended the half with a layup to make it 37-33 at the half.

Turow twice got within 1 early in the second half before Schilb gave the hosts a 44-38 cushion. Chylinski answered with a three, Wright converted a basket plus foul and Moldoveanu added a three-pointer in a 0-10 run that put Turow back on top. A second Moldoveanu triple made it 48-53. Baskets by Maleye Ndoye and Labeyrie closed the gap to 53-55 through three quarters. Oniangue tied the game at 57-57 early in the fourth quarter. Ndoye scored a go-ahead basket and Labeyrie doubled the lead, but Kulig and Collins tied it up at 61-61 midway through the quarter. Schilb knocked down a three for a 66-63 Paris lead. The difference swayed between 3 and 5 points until Collins sank free throws to make it 72-71 in the final minute. Mike Green’s jumper put Paris back up by three and Collins missed a three that would have tied it in the closing seconds.