Kahudi leads ASVEL to third straight win
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne improved to 3-1 in 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season Group C by downing Partizan NIS Belgrade 78-89 in the Serbian capital on Tuesday. ASVEL registered its third consecutive win – and first on the road, while Partizan fell to 1-3. Chalres Kahudi led the winners with 21 points, Amine Noua added 14, Eric Buckner 12 and Mantas Kalnietis tallied 11 points and 10 assists for ASVEL. Jock Landale led Partizan with 12 points, Stefan Jankovic, Aleksej Nikolic, Vanja Marinkovic and Marcus Page each scored 11 and Djordje Gagic 10 for the hosts.
Kalnietis and Kahudi shined early to give ASVEL a 6-12 lead. Noua stepped up right after that and a buzzer-beating three-pointer by A.J. Slaughter put ASVEL in charge 20-26 after 10 minutes. A dunk by Noua and back-to-back triples by Kahudi made it a double-digit game, 26-36, early in the second quarter. Noua and Kahudi kept pushing the visitors to lead 37-47 at halftime. A triple by Kalnietis and a layup by Buckner seemed to break the game open at 39-55 soon after the break. Landale and Marinkovic each struck from downtown in a 10-0 run that brought Partizan back to life, 49-55. Slaughter and Noua rescued ASVEL and free throws by Kahudi restored a 54-67 ASVEL margin after 30 minutes. Nothing changed after that and even though Partizan kept trying, ASVEL kept control. An off-balance layup by Buckner sealed the outcome at 66-80 with three minutes left.
Pivotal performer
Kalnietis reached double digits in assists for the first time in his EuroCup career. It was his first double-double, too, as he had 11 points. He only committed 1 turnover and added 3 rebounds, 3 steals and 4 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 24.
Game-changing moment
Partizan went on a 10-0 run to get within 49-55 late in the third quarter. Slaughter and Noua stepped up to quickly restore a 52-65 margin and Partizan never recovered after that.
Stellar stat
ASVEL finished the game with 25 assists and 9 turnovers; that's an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.78. Partizan had 17 assists and 12 turnovers for a ratio of 1.42. In what undeniably was one of the biggest keys of the game, ASVEL took much better care of the ball.
Did you notice?
Kahudi set a new EuroCup career-high with 21 points. He averaged 6.6 points in 59 EuroCup career games before this season. He has scored in double figures in all four games this season and is now averaging 15.5 points for the campaign.
Next game:
ASVEL hosts Zenit St. Petersburg on Tuesday, October 30. A day later, Partizan visits Turk Telekom Ankara.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Eurocupbasketball.com