2018-19Regular SeasonRound 6
November 06, 2018 CET: 20:30
Local time: 20:30 ASTROBALLE

ASVEL edges Valencia, takes Group C lead

LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne extended its winning streak to five games by edging visiting Valencia Basket 73-69 at home on Tuesday night. ASVEL took sole possession of first place in Group C with a 5-1 record, while Valencia dropped to 4-2. It was a game in which neither team held a lead bigger than 8 points. DeMarcus Nelson scored 20 points to lead ASVEL, A.J. Slaughter added 14 and Mantas Kalnietis contributed with 11 points and 6 assists. Louis Labeyrie collected 17 points plus 9 rebounds for Valencia, Mike Tobey had 13 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists and Guillem Vives scored 10 in the losing effort.

Valencia had a better opening as Tobey scored 6 points and Matt Thomas hit a triple before feeding Labeyrie for a fastbreak dunk to open an early 8-14 lead. The hosts answered, however, with Theo Maledon and Nelson leading the way. A triple from Slaughter gave ASVEL a 20-17 edge at the end of the first quarter. Valencia scored the first 6 points of the second, and three-pointer from Will Thomas made it 22-26. But ASVEL got right back in it, and neither team gained separation the rest of the half, which ended with 37-37 on the scoreboard. The teams traded baskets in the third quarter, too. Vives and Labeyrie hit a triple apiece to give the visitors a 46-47 edge and Tobey nailed a triple to make it 50-52. But the hosts scored the last 8 points of the quarter, including a three-point play by Kalnietis with 1.7 seconds remaining that made it 60-54 after 30 minutes. David Lighty extended the margin to 8 points on the first possession of the fourth, but Valencia replied with a 0-6 run. ASVEL regained breathing room with a triple from Slaughter before Valencia used a three from Fernando San Emeterio and an alley-oop dunk by Labeyrie to close within 67-65. However, a steal from Nelson and Eric Buckner's put-back in the final minute helped ASVEL secure the win.

Game-changing sequence

The teams traded leads in the third quarter, before David Lighty's assist for a dunk by Khadim Sow sparked a run of 8 consecutive points for ASVEL to end the quarter. Valencia remained without a single point for the final 2:52 of the third quarter before Lighty raced the length of the court for a dunk to cap a 10-0 run, making it 62-54. It was the biggest lead of the night, and the hosts never relinquished it again.

This youngster belongs

17-year old Theo Maledon played arguably his best game this season. In 17 minutes on the floor, he might have scored only 3 points, but he did it by beating the shot-clock on a first-quarter three-pointer. The uber-talented youngster pulled down 5 rebounds, dished 2 assists and collected 2 steals against one of the top teams in the competition.

Tiebreaker

The only thing ASVEL did not accomplish was win a tiebreaker, since Valencia won their Round 1 clash by 22 points.

Did you notice?

ASVEL's win continued the all-time trend. In six EuroCup games between these two teams, the home teams have won all six contests.

Next game

In Round 7, ASVEL will travel to face Dolomiti Energia Trento, and Valencia will be at home to welcome Turk Telekom Ankara.

Mantas Kalnietis - LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (photo Infinity Nine Media - Alexia Leduc) - EC18
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: KOROMILAS, ELIAS; PETEK, SASO; NIKOLIC, UROS
Attendance: 5184
By Quarter1234
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne20172313
Valencia Basket17201715
End of Quarter1234
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne20376073
Valencia Basket17375469
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
6 MALEDON, THEO 16:53 3 0/1 1/2   1 4 5 2 2 2     4 1 5
8 SLAUGHTER, AJ 29:19 14 4/5 2/7         2 2 1     2   9
9 KALNIETIS, MANTAS 28:27 11 2/4 2/4 1/3   2 2 6 1 4     1 7 16
11 GALLIOU, CHARLES 6:27 2 1/1               1     2   -1
14 SOW, KHADIM 27:54 2 1/5     3 4 7         1 3 1 2
15 BILAN, MIRO 22:38 4 2/7     1 3 4   1 2   1 3 2  
20 NELSON, DEMARCUS 24:15 20 8/12 1/2 1/3 1 1 2 3 2 1 2   1 2 22
21 BUCKNER, ERIC 25:26 9 2/4 0/1 5/7 3 4 7       1   2 5 15
23 LIGHTY, DAVID 16:26 8 2/3 0/1 4/5   2 2 1   1     4 5 8
24 BRIKI, SOFIANE 2:15                         1   -1
Team           2   2     2          
Totals 200:00 73 22/42 6/17 11/18 11 20 31 14 8 14 3 2 23 23 75
        52.4% 35.3% 61.1%
Head coach: MITROVIC, ZVEZDAN
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
Valencia Basket
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 GARCIA, SERGI 5:42     0/1                       -1
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 12:25 4 1/1   2/4   1 1           1 2 4
7 LABEYRIE, LOUIS 23:44 17 7/12 1/3   4 5 9     1 1   2 1 18
9 VAN ROSSOM, SAM 14:13 4 2/4     1 1 2 4 1 1   1 4 4 7
10 THOMAS, WILL 16:29 7 2/3 1/3     2 2     1       3 8
13 TOBEY, MIKE 23:32 13 4/4 1/2 2/2 2 6 8 3   2 1   3 1 20
14 DUBLJEVIC, BOJAN 16:13 4 1/4 0/2 2/4   4 4 1 1 2   1   4 4
16 VIVES, GUILLEM 26:04 10 1/2 2/3 2/2   1 1 4 1 4     3 4 11
19 SAN EMETERIO, FERNANDO 23:59 7 1/2 1/1 2/2   1 1 4 3 1     5 3 11
21 THOMAS, MATT 26:35 3 0/5 1/2         6       1 1 1 2
42 DOORNEKAMP, AARON 11:04               2         4   -2
50 GALARZA, JON DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team                     1         -1
Totals 200:00 69 19/37 7/17 10/14 7 21 28 24 6 13 2 3 23 23 81
        51.4% 41.2% 71.4%
Head coach: PONSARNAU, JAUME

Head Coaches

MITROVIC, ZVEZDAN
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"Another great win, with some young guys and with some experienced guys. I think we showed big heart, great energy. It is not easy to play against Valencia. Our young guys grew up, they showed up on the court in the difficult moments. All our guys did, but for me, the big surprise were a couple of our young players, they played on a high level. Valencia is a team that can easily score 100 points. Tonight Valencia was very aggressive on defense, which they didn't do before. I am very happy for the people here."
PONSARNAU, JAUME
Valencia Basket
"In the beginning I think we played dynamic, with a good and aggressive defense. And we did not make turnovers. But the benches changed the momentum of the game. We started making a lot of turnovers. In the last moment of the game we had a good opportunity to come back, but made a lot of turnovers in the key moments of the game. We are not a consistent team, and that's why we lost the game."

Players

SOW, KHADIM
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"LDLC ASVEL Center Our coach trusts us and pushes us, so I was not stressed to begin the game in the starting five. It was a really good game! Valencia is one of the best EuroCup teams. We brought a lot of intensity to win this game."
KALNIETIS, MANTAS
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"With the effort we showed tonight we deserved to win. We are really happy. We did not win against just anybody. We won against an important team in Europe, a well-known team, which played many years in the EuroLeague, won the EuroCup. It is a really good win for the ASVEL organization. We are improving every day, learning and growing up."
LABEYRIE, LOUIS
Valencia Basket
"It is just a bad game, we did not respond well to the physical defense. We made some mistakes on defense, but basketball is about putting the ball in the basket, and we did not make enough of those tonight."