Dijon edges the Dragons after a comeback

In its debut Eurocup season, JDA Dijon is advancing to the Last 32 from the third place after a come-from-behind 69-65 win over already eliminated last place Artland Dragons Quakenbrueck on Wednesday. Dijon improved to 6-4 in Group B, same as Telenet Ostend, but a higher cumulative score difference puts Ostend into the second place. The Dragons finished their Eurocup campaign with 1-9 record. The visitors led for most of the night, using a 0-12 run to end the second and start the third quarter and open a 14-point lead. But Dijon rallied behind Andre Harris, and only took over the lead in the final minute before prevailing with some clutch free throw shooting in the final seconds. Harris scored 21 points, Steven Gray had 12, and Erving Walker 11 in victory. The Dragons, which hit 11 three-pointers, had Brandon Thomas scored 14, while Anthony King and Lawrence Hill added 11 apiece in defeat.

Hill and David Holston hit triples to give the Dragons a 2-10 start to the game, but Gray got Dijon going before Harris and Kris Joseph knocked down triples to give the hosts 16-15 lead after 10 minutes. At the start of the second, Thomas scored a layup to open a 0-9 run capped by a put-back from Guido Grunheid for 18-24. Harris strung together 7 points for Dijon, including a triple, helping cut it to 27-29, but the hosts remained scoreless in the final four and a half minutes of the quarter, while Thomas scored a layup and assisted for a Chad Toppert triple, making it 27-34 at halftime.

The hosts’ drought continued for almost four minutes of the fourth, while triple from Thomas and baskets from Holston and King made it 27-41. Gray snapped a drought of 7 and a half minutes with a layup, and he got Dijon’s offense going with a triple and an assist. Jacques Alingues had a pair of layups, Gray scored on a fastbreak, and Aldo Curti hit a triple helping Dijon cut it to 43-46 after three quarters. Hill and and Toppert hit triples to keep the Dragons with some breathing room in the fourth, 48-55. However, Harris again strung together 7 points, and his triple was followed by a three-pointer from Walker for 60-60. Hill nailed a three for the visitors with 2 minutes to go, but Harris and Walker each scored – while assisting each other – to give Dijon a long awaited lead, 66-65. Walker added a pair of free throws, and Gray sealed the deal from the foul line.