Cantu stays alive, runs away from Nanterre

FoxTown Cantu pulled away in the fourth quarter to down JSF Nanterre 89-74 on Tuesday, keeping alive its hopes of advancing to the Eighthfinals. Cantu avoided elimination and improved to 2-3 in the third place of Group I, while Nanterre dropped its second consecutive decision and now has 3-2 record. With this 15-point victory, Cantu also holds a head-to-head tie-breaker over the French champion, because it overcame 88-84 loss from Round 1. Teams traded leads for 30 minutes, with neither team holding a lead bigger than 5 points, before Roberto Rullo fueled a 14-1 run at the start of the fourth quarter to put Cantu up 74-61. The hosts kept the double-digit margin for the remainder of the game as Michael Jenkins paced the winners with 29 points on 6 of 11 three-pointers, and he dished 6 assists. Adrian Uter amassed 14 points plus 11 rebounds, while Roberto Rullo and Maarten Leunen added 11 apiece. Johan Passave scored 15 with 7 rebounds for Nanterre. Trent Meacham scored 12, Will Daniels had 11 points, while David Lighty finished with 10 points plus 6 assists in defeat.

In the first 20 minutes there were 9 lead changes in addition to score being tied 7 times. Teams traded leads from the get-go. Passave got Nanterre going with 6 points, while Jenkins had a pair of dunks and Leunen scored a basket-plus-foul for the hosts and 8-8. Uter finished the first quarter for Cantu scoring 6 points, while Daniels and Passave cut it to 14-13 after 10 minutes. Mam Jaiteh from close range, and a second chance triple from Meacham, gave Nanterre 14-18 early in the second quarter. Cantu briefly regained the lead with a three-pointer from Stefano Gentile and Marco Cusin’s dunk. DeShaun Thomas scored a layup for the visitors, before Jenkins and Xavier Corosine traded triples for 22-25. After Joe Ragland nailed a three for the hosts, and another tie, a fastbreak dunk from Thomas had Nanterre up again, 25-29. Jenkins and Corosine traded triples again, then Cusin and Meacham traded baskets, before Rullo hit a buzzer-beater triple to send Cantu up 35-34 at halftime.

Teams converted the opening 7 possessions of the third quarter, including 6 triples. Jenkins hit a pair, and Ragland nailed one for Cantu, while Meacham buried one and Lighty two for 44-45. A three-pointer from Leunen gave Cantu 49-47, but Nanterre regained the lead through layups from Lighty and Passave, before Segii Gladyr hit from long range and 49-54. Gentile and Leunen rallied Cantu with 7-0 run, including Gentile hitting behind the arc, and Uter closed the third quarter with a layup for 60-58 lead going into the fourth quarter. Judith tied it for the one last time with a fastbreak layup at the start of the fourth, but Cantu went on a game-clinching 14-1 run. Rullo started things with basket from inside and from the distance, and after Marcel Jones hit a triple, Rullo followed it with another one for 74-61. Kevin Lisch ended Nanterre’s drought, and Daniels scored on a fast break, but Jenkins and Uter extended it to 79-65. Lisch hit a three-pointer for Nanterre’s hope, but Jenkins replied with his sixth triple on the other end. Passave and Daniels cut it to 82-72 at the start of the final minute, but Jenkins nailed a jumper and Leunen hit a triple in the final seconds to increase the final margin which might be crucial for Cantu if tie-breakers will be involved.