Valencia prevails in offensive spectacle with Bourg
Valencia Basket survived an offensive spectacle in defeating Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse 98-95 at home in yet another tight battle. Valencia wasted a 13-point lead but collected the win thanks to some late-game heroics from Sam Van Rossom to move to 3-2. Since Valencia’s 10-point season-opening win versus Promitheas Patras, Coach Joan Penarroya’s team lost twice by one point and won by a single point before the three-point win over Bourg. Xabi Lopez-Arostegui paced five Valencia players in double figures with 18 points while Jaime Pradilla and Jasiel Rivero both scored 16 points, Klemen Prepelic tallied 15 points and Bojan Dubjlevic chipped in 13 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Bourg dropped to 1-5 despite outstanding showings from Rasheed Sulaimon, who had 25 points; and CJ Harris, who collected 24 points. JaCorey Williams netted 16 points and Axel Julien 14 in the defeat.
Dubljevic opened the game with a three-pointer for Valencia, which was up 7-0 before Alexandre Chassang finally got Bourg on the scoreboard after nearly 2 minutes. Julien hit 2 three-pointers for the guests but Dubjlevic had 5 points and an assist and the home side was up 18-11. A Louis Labeyrie score increased the margin to 22-13 and Valencia led 24-17 after 10 minutes.
Hayden Dalton started the second quarter with a three-pointer for Bourg only to see Prepelic and Lopez-Arostegui both make triples and Labeyrie convert a four-point play for Valencia and a 34-25 cushion. Chassang managed to trim the gap to 36-31, but that just woke up the Valencia attack, especially Lopez-Arostegui with 2 three-pointers among his 8 points in a 10-2 run to lead 46-33. Bourg was not impressed and Sulaimon connected on a three-pointer and Harris converted an and-one and the guests were within 48-43. The score was 50-43 at the break.
Harris opened the second half with a three-pointer with youngsters Pradilla and Josep Puerto answering for a 54-48 lead. Bourg was not ready to give up with Julien, Harris and Sulaimon all draining threes to knot the game 61-61. Julien’s next triple gave Bourg its first lead of the game, 63-64. Sulaimon added 4 more points and the cushion was 66-68. Valencia pulled back ahead on a Prepelic three-pointer but it was Bourg up after 30 minutes 70-71 thanks to Dalton’s tip-in.
The opening minutes of the final frame saw a real back and forth with five lead changes and three ties before Van Rossom’s three-pointer and Rivero’s three-point play made it 82-75 with 6 minutes left. Another Lopez-Arostegui triple pushed the gap to 87-79. Bourg would not go away with Harris and Williams cutting the gap to 4, but Rivero twice answered inside and the lead was 93-87 with 2 minutes left. Sulaimon knocked down a big three-pointer and a Williams layup cut the margin to 93-92. Van Rossom punched back with a massive three-pointer only to see Harris twice go to the foul line, converting the first 3 foul shots but missing the last with 22 seconds for a 96-95 score. Van Rossom stepped up again with 2 free throws with 18 seconds to play. Harris was unable to hit the three-pointer at the buzzer and Valencia escaped.
Pivotal performer: Van Rossom shows up big late
Sam Van Rossom is one of the long-time faces of Valencia and the veteran stepped up when it counted. He hit a massive three-pointer with 1:16 minutes left and then drained both free throws with 18 seconds remaining to make sure Bourg needed a three-pointer to tie the game. Van Rossom finished with 8 points with 2 three-pointers and 2 free throws. He also grabbed 2 rebounds and dished out a team-high 6 of 29 assists.
Harris misses only final shot from heroic showing
CJ Harris did all he could but came up just short of leading Bourg to the big victory. He made 3 of 8 two-pointers, 3 of 5 three-pointers and 9 of 11 free throws for 24 points. He missed the attempt to tie the game at the buzzer and also split two free throws with 22 seconds to miss a chance to tie the game. Harris also had 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 10 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 28.
Telling numbers: Valencia's efficiency on offense
Valencia shot a blistering hot 72.4% on two-pointers while also burying 42.3% on three-pointers and connecting on 23 of 28 free throws (82.1%), compared to 17-of-21 shooting from the foul line for Bourg. Valencia totaled 29 assists - just 2 shy of the club’s EuroCup record set against Turk Telekom Ankara in November 2018. Bourg could not take advantage of hitting 52.2% on three-pointers and also committing only 8 turnovers. Bourg was also out-rebounded 31 to 24.
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Eurocupbasketball.com