BCM Gravelines shot to the top of Group A with its second straight win by crushing BC Donetsk 78-53 at home. Pape Sy scored 16 points and grabbed 7 rebounds and Juby Johnson added 11 in a team effort that saw 10 different players score. The game had a seesaw start, with Donetsk leading early and Gravelines battline back. But an 11-0 second-quarter charge made it 30-15 en route to a 42-28 cushion at the break. Donetsk was within 57-45 after three quarters, but a 12-0 blitz to start the fourth quarter essentially sealed the deal. Vule Avdalovic paced Donetsk with 16 points and Michael Lee posted 11 points and 11 rebounds in defeat as the visitors dropped to 1-1.

Darnell Jackson opened the scoring for the visitors with a slam on a second-chance possession. Ludo Vaty netted Gravelines’s first points before Lee scored for Donetsk on the offensive glass. Yannick Bokolo soon gave Gravelines its first lead, but Avdalovic and Ramel Curry pushed the visitors ahead 7-11. It took some time, but Gravelines alas found it footing and Juby Johnson and Bokolo keyed a 9-0 run to finish the first quarter ahead 19-12. Curry nailed another triple to start the second quarter, however the hosts reeled off 11 straight points – 6 from Sy – to jump to a commanding 30-15 advantage. Xavier Silas extended the lead to 19, but Curry and Jackson kept pushing back for Donetsk. And Avdalovic kept the visitors with some hope after his triple made it 42-28 at the break.

Avdalovic’s layup opened the second half and Lee clawed Donetsk within 10 from the line. But Gravelines shot back with 8 straight points – the last coming on a Rudy Jomby three-pointer – to go ahead by 18. Viacheslav Kravtsov attacked the glass for two key baskets to spice up the game and bring his team as close as 53-44. Sy got to the line for 2, but Avdalovic kept his team in the hunt. A Bokolo layup made it 57-45 through three quarters. Andrew Albicy nailed a triple, Dounia Issa converted a three-point play and J.K. Edwards followed with a basket-plus-foul as Gravelines looked to put the game away by taking the lead to 20+ points. Sy was the next to score and get to the line, where he capped a 12-0 run that made it 69-45. Oleksandr Lypovyy ended a five-minute scoreless drought for Donetsk, but it was too little, too late, as Gravelines had already secured a comfortable margin en route to an important win.