Late 10-0 run lifts ASVEL ovel Cantu


ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne left it late but pulled out 78-70 win over winless Cantu on Wednesday. Win improves ASVEL to 2-1 record in a share of the second place of Group B, while Cantu is in the last place with 0-3- The leads went back and forth in the first half, and neither team had more than a 5-point advantage for the first 37 minutes. After Stefano Gentile put the hosts up 59-61 with a triple, Edwin Jackson countered with one from downtown for the hosts before Taurean Green hit a three-pointer and jumper for 69-61, biggest lead of the night. Genitle hit two more triples, and Darius Odom-Johnson added one in the closing seconds, but ASVEL held on. Jackson finished with 20 points, and David Andersen scored 16 with 6 rebounds to lead the hosts. David Lighty and Ahmad Nivins each collected 12 points plus 7 rebounds, while Green netted 11 in victory. Gentile hit 5 of 9 behind the arc for 19 points, Johnson-Odom had 14 points and 6 assists, while Damian Hollis scored 11 for Cantu.

Nivins and Amara Sy helped the hosts to 9-5 lead in the opening minutes, before Genitle hit a pair of triples and Ivan Buva had a layup for 11-15. Andersen nailed one behind the arc for the hosts, to finish the first quarter at 14-15, and teams went on exchanging leads in the second. Nivins and Lighty had dunks for ASVEL, and Andersen scored a second chance basket for 20-15. But Gentile snapped a 9-0 run with a layup, and Cantu regained the lead behind a pair of baskets from Johnson-Odom and a triple from Awudu Abass. A buzzer-beater by DeQuan Jones gave Cantu 30-33 at halftime.

Both team fought for every basket after the break. Hollis had two close-range buckets, and Genitle one, after grabbing an offensive rebound, 36-41. But Green hit a triple, and after baskets from Nivins and Lighty, a three-pointer from Jackson made it 46-44. Cantu countered with Buva from close range, and Johnson-Odom from long range at the end of the third, 48-49. In the fourth, Andersen started things with a basket-plus foul, putting ASVEL in front. After Buva hit a triple and Abass made a fastbreak dunk for the visitors, Travis Bader knocked down a triple for 57-54. Teams continued going basket-for-basket, with Gentile and Jackson trading triples for 62-61. Lighty followed it with a put-back, before Green knocked down a triple and a shot for 69-61. Gentile snapped a 10-0 run with a triple, and added another one with 94 seconds to go, 72-67. Odom-Johnson cut the deficit to 3 points with 13 seconds on the clock, but Jackson scored 5 points in the remaining time for ASVEL’s victory.