2020-21Regular SeasonRound 14
December 16, 2020 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 ASTROBALLE

ASVEL sets club record in win

In a thriller that came down to the last shot, LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne snapped its three-game losing streak by topping Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 84-81 at the Astroballe on Wednesday. In the process, ASVEL set a club record with 33 two-point shots. ASVEL improved to 4-9 in the standings, right behind Maccabi at 5-9. Norris Cole and Moustapha Fall led the winners with 15 points apiece. ASVEL also got 11 points from Amine Noua and 10 from David Lighty. Scottie Wilbekin paced Maccabi with 25 points, Elijah Bryant added 12 and Dragan Bender had 11 for the visitors. It all came down to the final minute, in which a three-point play by Angelo Caloiaro gave Maccabi a chance. Maccabi got a defensive stop, but Wilbekin missed a three-point shot from the corner in the final seconds.

Lighty got ASVEL going with a layup off a steal, which Wilbekin bettered with a triple. Lighty hit a jumper and got help from Guerschon Yabusele and Allerik Freeman for an 8-6 ASVEL lead. Bryant scored down low and Wilbekin added a layup-plus-foul, but Fall answered with 7 quick points for a 15-11 score. Bender followed a dunk with a three-pointer but Yabusele, Freeman and Antoine Diot kept the hosts ahead, 23-16. Yabusele scored around the basket and Lighty downed a jumper, prompting Maccabi to call timeout at 27-18. Bender got the visitors closer, 30-24, after 10 minutes. Matt Strazel downed a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter. Othello Hunter and Ismael Bako traded baskets before John DiBartolomeo joined the three-point shootout to get within 6. Fall scored twice down low in an 8-0 run that made it 44-30. Hunter and Fall exchanged dunks and Bryant got the visitors to 46-34. Wilbekin and Ante Zizic brought Maccabi even closer, 50-41, at halftime.

Yabusele buried a triple soon after the break and Fall scored again for a 55-42 ASVEL lead. Bryant downed a couple of jumpers in a 0-9 run that Wilbekin capped with a close basket for a 55-51 Maccabi deficit. Lacombe followed a backdoor layup with a jump hook, but Chris Jones and Bryant got Maccabi even closer, 59-56. Bako stepped up with a tip-in and got help from Noua and Cole to restore a 67-61 ASVEL lead, which Wilbekin cut to 67-64 with a buzzer-beating triple at the end of the third quarter. Cole hit a one-handed jumper, but Tyler Dorsey did better with a bomb from beyond the arc. Noua buried a couple of jumpers and a triple in a 9-0 run that Lighty capped with a layup for a 78-67 ASVEL lead. Lighty scored in penetration, but Wilbekin and Caloiaro brought Maccabi within 80-73 with over 3 minutes left. Wilbekin buried a three-pointer off an ASVEL timeout and fed Hunter for an alley-oop slam, but Cole hit a jumper and Noua dunked for an 84-78 lead with 1:07 left. Caloiaro answered with a three-point play and Maccabi got the ball back with 10.8 seconds remaining, but Wilbekin missed from downtown on the visitors' final possession.

Pivotal performer

Fall returned to his best level as a dominant force in the paint. He finished the game with 15 points on 7-of-9 two-point shooting, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, 2 blocks and 4 fouls drawn for a PIR of 25. A truly all-around performance.

Game-changing moment

ASVEL led 69-67 early in the fourth quarter, but found a go-to guy in Noua, who buried a jumper from the elbow, a big three-pointer from the top of the key and a close shot. Lighty soon scored around the basket to make Maccabi stop the game at 78-67. Maccabi got closer, but that run allowed ASVEL to win the game.

Stellar stat

ASVEL hit 67.3% of its two-point shots, scoring 33 of 49 attempts for a club record. The previous best was 29 two-point shots made against ALBA Berlin both in 2004 and 2019. It is also the EuroLeague's best mark this season; Real Madrid had 30 against Panathinaikos on Tuesday. In contrast, Maccabi made 19 of 32 two-point shots (59.4%).

Did you know?

This was ASVEL's first win against Maccabi in the 21st century. Maccabi had won their last three showdowns against ASVEL: 80-85 at the Astroballe on November 18, 2004, behind a career-high 33 points from Anthony Parker; 89-69 at home on January 13, 2005; and 93-62 at home on November 28, 2019. ASVEL's last win, 70-65, came on December 16, 1999.

Next game

Both teams return to EuroLeague action later on this week - on Friday, December 18. ASVEL hosts Khimki Moscow Region. Maccabi visits FC Barcelona.

Guerschon Yabusele - LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne - EB20
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: PEREZ, MIGUEL ANGEL; PETEK, SASO; RADOJKOVIC, JOSIP
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne30201717
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv24172317
End of Quarter1234
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne30506784
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv24416481
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 FREEMAN, ALLERIK 27:40 6 3/4 0/3             1     2 3 2
6 LACOMBE, PAUL 15:32 6 3/4       2 2 3 1   1   2   10
8 DIOT, ANTOINE 15:05 2 1/2 0/1   1 1 2 3   2     1   2
9 LOMAZS, RIHARDS 4:04 2   0/1 2/2                 1 2 2
10 FALL, MOUSTAPHA 29:39 15 7/9   1/2 1 4 5 3 1 1 2 1   4 25
12 NOUA, AMINE 16:22 11 3/4 1/3 2/2         1   1   2 2 10
13 HAYES, KEVARRIUS 2:07                   1     1   -2
21 BAKO, ISMAEL 8:14 5 2/2   1/1 2 3 5     1     2 1 8
23 LIGHTY, DAVID 27:00 10 5/12     1 7 8 2 2 2   1 4 1 9
28 YABUSELE, GUERSCHON 23:38 9 3/6 1/2   1 3 4 1         1   9
30 COLE, NORRIS 24:55 15 6/6 0/2 3/4 1 2 3 4   4     3 3 15
32 STRAZEL, MATTHEW 5:44 3   1/1             1     3   -1
Team           3 2 5               5
Totals 200:00 84 33/49 3/13 9/11 10 24 34 16 5 13 4 2 22 16 94
        67.3% 23.1% 81.8%
Head coach: PARKER, TJ
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
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 BRYANT, ELIJAH 29:01 12 5/6 0/6 2/3 2 3 5 3 2 1       2 15
1 WILBEKIN, SCOTTIE 29:00 25 4/6 3/9 8/8   4 4 3 1 2       6 29
3 JONES, CHRIS 16:20 6 1/1 1/3 1/2       2   1     1 1 4
4 CALOIARO, ANGELO 24:07 7 2/4 0/1 3/3 3 1 4         1 2 3 8
5 HUNTER, OTHELLO 22:37 8 4/8     1 1 2 3 2 1     1 2 11
6 COHEN, SANDY 5:38   0/1     1   1   1   1   1   1
11 DORSEY, TYLER 14:45 7 0/1 2/5 1/5 1 1 2 2   2   2 2 3  
12 DIBARTOLOMEO, JOHN 10:05 3   1/2             1     2 2 1
14 BLAYZER, OZ DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
17 BENDER, DRAGAN 23:48 11 2/2 2/4 1/1 1 1 2   1 1   1 3 1 8
23 ZIZIC, ANTE 13:46 2 1/2       4 4       1   2 1 5
50 ZOOSMAN, YOVEL 10:53   0/1       1 1   1 1     2 1 -1
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 81 19/32 9/30 16/22 10 17 27 13 8 10 2 4 16 22 83
        59.4% 30% 72.7%
Head coach: SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS

Head Coaches

PARKER, TJ
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"We had a good offense in the first half. We found the right solutions, scoring 50 points, moving the ball, finding inside. Mous [Moustapha Fall], of course, was a force in the first half. After that, we still went up in the fourth quarter, but we have to finish the games better than what we did. At the end of the day, we won this time, for once, and we held on to get the win."
SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
"Congratulations to ASVEL for the win. We didn't start the game as we planned. We didn't want to open the game allowing such easy points to our opponent. They scored 30 points in the first period and 50, in general, in the first half, and that was something that we couldn't control in the first half because of our defense. In the second half, we changed the momentum of the game. I think we played much better defense. We started really good and came back to the game. I think this is the positive thing from our team, and we showed better character in the second half. I think it was very crucial that, when the game went to 69-67, we allowed ASVEL to get a lead of 11 points, and that was very crucial for the final decision of the game. But again, we didn't give up. We tried to come back and had some chances. We had the last shot to tie the game, to go to overtime. Unfortunately, we missed, but my players showed a big effort- They didn't give up and fought until the end. In general, when you score 81 points in an away game, I think our biggest problem is we received a lot of two-point shots."

Players

FALL, MOUSTAPHA
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"It was tough. Maccabi is a tough team and we both needed the win. We are at the bottom of the rankings. We are hungry, this is why the game was tough, but we finally ended up with the win. We need to win at home because on the road is more difficult for us so far. We need to get every win we can get at home."
NOUA, AMINE
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"That was important. I think we played good, that was a good team spirit and I am proud of my teammates. It was a great team effort and we deserved the win. The EuroLeague is top-level and we need to be focused for 40 minutes and play hard, and that is what we did. That was a pretty good game, so we can be proud. We have an important game coming and so more this month. Let's be focused, do some work and keep going."
CALOIARO, ANGELO
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
"We came out slow and gave up way too many easy buckets in the first half, building too big of a hole. By the time we turned it around defensively, really locking in and playing more aggressively, it was a little too late. In the second half, we continued to fight, didn't give up at the end, and that's a positive, but we need to start better and play better all four quarters."
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