2018-19QuarterfinalsGame 1
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 79
MoraBanc Andorra 75
March 05, 2019 CET: 20:30
Local time: 20:30 ASTROBALLE

ASVEL protects home court with come-from-behind win

LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne rallied from a double-digit second-half deficit to edge visiting MoraBanc Andorra 79-75 and take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three quarterfinals series on Tuesday night at the Astroballe. The two teams meet again in 72 hours in Andorra for Game 2. MoraBanc led 34-44 at the start of the second quarter, but Charles Kahudi fueled a 13-0 run before ASVEL took control in the fourth quarter and pulled out the victory. Kahudi scored 18 of his career-high tying 21 points in the third quarter to lead in victory, while A.J. Slaughter scored 11 of his 15 points in the second quarter for ASVEL. Moussa Diagne had 16 points on 6-for-6 two-point shooting and 8 rebounds to lead the visitors, while Michele Vitali netted 12 in the losing effort.

The visitors took the lead right away with a three-point play by Dylan Ennis and a triple from Andrew Albicy to make it 4-10. David Lighty hit a three-pointer for ASVEL and he had a layup to spark a 6-0 run that gave the hosts their first lead, 17-16. A big dunk from Jerome Jordan put MoraBanc up 17-20 at the end of the first quarter, but Slaughter strung together 8 points for the hosts early in the second, including a three-point play to make it 25-22. However, MoraBanc held the hosts without a basket for 4 and a half minutes, mixing man defense with 2-3 and 1-3-1 zone defenses. Diagne scored 5 points to open a 25-31 lead. After Slaughter hit a three-pointer to end ASVEL’s drought, Diagne and John Shurna made it 30-37. A triple from Vitali gave the visitors a 34-42 halftime lead. Ennis and Diagne hooked up for an alley-oop dunk to open a 10-point lead, but ASVEL answered with a 13-0 run that included a triple from Amine Noua and two from Kahudi to give the hosts a 47-44 advantage. Kahudi hit another triple, but Diagne had a three-point play and Vitali a three-pointer to restore MoraBanc’s lead, 53-54. Kahudi scored 5 more points, including a triple, and Noua nailed a corner three to make it 64-60 after 30 minutes. The hosts kept the lead through close-range baskets from Slaughter and Miro Bilan and after Ennis and Shurna answered, the only basket of the night from Mantas Kalnietis made it 75-68 with 4:10 to go. MoraBanc did not go away, with Ennis hitting a triple with 1:55 left to cut it within 77-75, but ASVEL did not allow another basket and prevailed to win the series opener.

Key run

ASVEL struggled in the first quarter and found itself in a 10-point deficit at the start of the second, but Amine Noua and Charles Kahudi fueled a 13-0 run to get the hosts, and the home crowd, going.

Pivotal performer

ASVEL team captain Kahudi was scoreless in the first half, but scored 18 points as ASVEL turned a 34-44 deficit into a 59-57 lead.

Movers and shakers

David Lighty did a bit of everything with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, while Miro Bilan and Amine Noua scored 10 apiece. Mantas Kalnietis scored just 2 points, but had 7 rebounds and 5 assists. On the losing side, John Shurna and Andrew Albicy had 11 points apiece and Dylan Ennis collected 10 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Key stat

ASVEL allowed just 3 offensive rebounds, including none in the third quarter. The hosts pulled down 11 offensive boards, which proved a huge difference in a tight contest.

Next game

Game 2 is scheduled for Friday in Andorra where MoraBanc is a perfect 8-0 this season and averages 93.1 points per game.

Charles Kahudi - LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (photo Infinity Nine Media - Alexia Leduc) - EC18
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: GKONTAS, SPIROS; VILIUS, GYTIS; ROSSI, MICHELE
Attendance: 5560
By Quarter1234
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne17173015
MoraBanc Andorra20221815
End of Quarter1234
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne17346479
MoraBanc Andorra20426075
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 15:08 2 0/1 0/3 2/2   1 1 3         1 1 2
8 SLAUGHTER, AJ 24:24 15 3/6 1/6 6/6   2 2   1       2 4 12
9 KALNIETIS, MANTAS 27:30 2 1/7 0/3   2 5 7 5   1 1   2   3
11 GALLIOU, CHARLES DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 NOUA, AMINE 23:13 10 2/3 2/2   1 3 4 1 1 1     2   12
14 SOW, KHADIM 7:19               2         4   -2
15 BILAN, MIRO 21:00 10 5/9   0/2 2 3 5 1   2     3 6 11
17 JEAN-CHARLES, LIVIO 17:48 6 2/3   2/2 1 2 3 1 1 2     3 1 6
23 LIGHTY, DAVID 33:36 13 4/7 1/6 2/3 1 5 6 3 2 5   1 4 4 9
24 BRIKI, SOFIANE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
55 KAHUDI, CHARLES 30:02 21 3/3 4/6 3/4 2 2 4 2 1   1   4 4 26
Team           2 3 5               5
Totals 200:00 79 20/39 8/26 15/19 11 26 37 18 6 11 2 1 25 20 84
        51.3% 30.8% 78.9%
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
MoraBanc Andorra
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 LUZ, RAFA 15:37 5 2/3 0/1 1/2   1 1 3   1     2 2 5
14 STEVIC, OLIVER 10:33         1   1 1         2 1 1
16 ALBICY, ANDREW 24:29 11 3/6 1/6 2/3   4 4 3 2 1       2 12
21 DIAGNE, MOUSSA 29:08 16 6/6   4/5   8 8 1 1 1 1   2 6 29
22 SHURNA, JOHN 30:44 11 4/7 1/3     3 3 3         2 1 11
24 COLOM, GUILLEM DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
25 JELINEK, DAVID 11:27 1 0/2 0/1 1/2   1 1 4   1   1 2 1 -1
30 UPSHAW, REGGIE 21:03 4 1/2 0/3 2/2 1 4 5     2     2 2 3
31 ENNIS, DYLAN 24:16 10 2/6 1/1 3/4   5 5 4   1   1 3 2 11
33 VITALI, MICHELE 23:08 12 1/2 2/3 4/5   2 2 2   3       3 13
44 JORDAN, JEROME 9:35 5 1/2   3/4   1 1 1 1       5 4 5
Team           1   1     1          
Totals 200:00 75 20/36 5/18 20/27 3 29 32 22 4 11 1 2 20 24 89
        55.6% 27.8% 74.1%
Head coach: NAVARRO, IBON

Head Coaches

MITROVIC, ZVEZDAN
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"It was a quarterfinals game. I think everyone expected a tough game like we played tonight. I think my team in the second half showed our face, aggressive defense, offense. We played with our whole heart full of emotions. In the second half the fans started to support us, gave us new energy and we won the game. Congratulation to my guys and a big thanks to all the fans supporting us in a very tough and critical moment. Charles Kahudi played really great. He had some problems earlier, but he is in good shape now. He really showed a captain’s face. He took the team and the team followed him. They never played zone defense this season, maybe one offense that we saw. That was a surprise for us. We missed some open shots against it. In the second half, we hit some open shots, Bilan scored easy baskets inside and they stopped playing that type of defense. Ibon Navarro is a good coach and my good friend. He analyzed us; we had some problems against the zone defense. I think players just had problems hitting open shots. We were finding open shots, but missed them."
NAVARRO, IBON
MoraBanc Andorra
"Congratulations to ASVEL on the victory. I think we did a very good job for 30 minutes, even longer, 40 minutes. It is not easy to play here against ASVEL in this atmosphere. I think we had control, but then great accuracy from the three-point line in the third quarter from Kahudi and Noua changed the game. We lost our confidence in what we were doing on defense, it broke our rhythm on offense and on defense. I think those 30 points ASVEL scored in the third quarter were the key for them to become more comfortable on the court and to get into the last quarter with the game where they wanted to have it. But despite that, I think we did enough good things for us to think we can compete against them on Friday and get a victory that would let us come back here next week."

Players

LIGHTY, DAVID
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"We knew it was going to be a dog fight, that it would be tough. They are battling just like us, trying to advance. [In the] second half we came up big and we showed what we could do when we play our game. On the road, we can’t start like we did today. We will see what happens on Friday and hopefully, we can come out with a win."
No results found.