Nancy survives Nymburk down the stretch


SLUC Nancy held off CEZ Basketball Nymburk 78-76 to get a winning start to its Group C campaign on Wednesday. Nancy took control in the second quarter, and held 46-36 lead midway through the third. But the Czech champion rallied behind Tre Simmons and Derek Raivio as the game went down to the wire. In the final minutes, Nancy stepped up on defense, however, and a key basket from Darius Adams paved the way to victory. Adams finished with 22 points and 5 assists to lead Nancy. Florent Pietrus posted 16 points plus 7 rebounds, Randal Falker had 15 points and 7 rebounds, while Vaughn Duggins scored 13. Simmons and Raivio each netted 13 for Nymburk, and Petr Benda had 10 in defeat.

Pietrus strung together 6 points, and Duggins scored a pair of baskets as Nancy grabbed 14-6 early lead. Nymburk was quick to reply with a 0-11 run, during which Simmons had a triple and a fastbreak layup, but Sergii Gladyr buried a three-pointer in the final seconds of the first quarter for 17-17 after 10 minutes. Gladyr’s triple early in the second quarter got things going for the hosts, but Radoslav Rancik hit from downtown for the visitors, and couple of layups from Benda made it 28-28. However, Pietrus made a fastbreak dunk, fueling another run for Nancy, and a last second three-pointer from Adams gave the hosts 37-28 halftime lead.

Duggins led the way for Nancy after the break, helping it keep the lead, and extend it to 46-36. But a basket-plus-foul from Garrett Stutz, and triple from Simmons cut it to 48-44, before a jumper from Raivio got the visitors within 51-50 late in the third. Baskets from Duggins and Adams made it 57-54 after 30 minutes, and the two players scored at the start of the fourth, including a triple from Adams fro 62-54. But Pavel Houska had a three-pointer and a three-point play to keep Nymburk’s hopes alive, before Raivio and Simmons buried downtown shots for 70-70 with 3 minutes to go. However, the hosts did not allow another basket for two-and-a half minutes, as Adams hit a jumper, before Randal Falker and Gladyr sealed it from the foul line in the final 15 seconds.