Metropolitans beat Brescia to keep hope for first place

Boulogne Metropolitans 92 kept alive its hopes of winning Regular Season Group B by knocking off Germani Brescia 86-81 at home in Paris on Tuesday. Big man Assem Marei posted 24 points and 15 rebounds for a performance index rating of 37 for the French side, which won its seventh game in the last eight to finish Group B at 7-3. Archie Goodwin poured in 19 points and David Michineau added 11 points for the winners, who will clinch first place if Unicaja Malaga loses to ratiopharm Ulm on Wednesday. Otherwise, Metropolitans will move on to the Top 16 as the second-place finisher. TJ Cline tallied 26 points and Kenny Chery picked up 13 points and 6 assists for Brescia, which lost its third straight and seventh of eight for a 2-8 final record.

Miralem Halilovic opened the scoring for the hosts while Drew Crawford handed Brescia's a 2-4 lead. Three-pointers by Anthony Brown and Michineau saw Metropolitans surge ahead 10-4, but Cline and Giordano Bortolani were on target from deep as Brescia tied 16-16. Chery made a triple and delivered an assist to put Brescia ahead only to see Marei give the home side the lead 22-21 after 10 minutes. Bastien Pinault's three-pointer early in the second half was matched by Tyler Kalinoski before Marei scored back-to-back putbacks at 30-26. Goodwin strung together 7 straight points before Lahaou Konate's triple made it 40-32 for the hosts. Cline scored Brescia's final 11 points to get the guests within 44-41 at the break. Brown and Michineau started the second half by pushing the lead to 48-41. but soon Crawford and Brian Sacchetti hit triples and Sacchetti's layup put Brescia in front 54-55. Goodwin answered with a three-pointer for Metropolitans and the home side was up 61-58 after 30 minutes. Cline gave Brescia the first of fourth straight lead change before a 5-0 run gave Metropolitans a 68-64 cushion. Marei took over again with 9 points in an 11-4 surge to a 79-70 scoreboard with 3 minutes left. Kalinoski hit a triple and Cline added a three-point play at 81-76 but Goodwin punched back with free throws and a transition score to make 86-76 to decide the game.

Marei historic for Metropolitans

Assem Marei finished with 24 points on 7-of-15 two-point and 10-of-13 free-throw shooting to go with 15 rebounds, 10 of them offensive. He added 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 11 fouls drawn for a PIR of 37. The Egyptian center set career highs for points and rebounds and tied the club's EuroCup highs in free throws attempted and index rating. His 10 offensive boards matched the second-most in EuroCup history.

Goodwin good in win

Metropolitans once again got a big game from new guard Archie Goodwin as he scored 19 points with 2 rebounds for an index rating of 21 in his second game with his new team. He had 10 points and 10 rebounds for a PIR of 24 in his first appearance in Round 9.

Brescia youth getting a chance

With nothing at stake in the game for Brescia, the team's 20-year-old Giordano Bortolani had a chance to shine with 7 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 block in more than 19 minutes of action.

Telling numbers

Metropolitans out-rebounded Brescia 43-33, including 20 offensive rebounds, which turned into a 19-6 advantage in second-chance points. The hosts committed just 11 turnovers and made 24 of 29 free throws as compared to 17 turnovers and 4 of 5 foul shots for Brescia.