Batista leads Limoges to victory in Last 32 debut

Limoges CSP opened its Eurocup Last 32 campaign with a 71-59 victory at home over PAOK Thessaloniki in Group J, thanks to a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter. J.P. Batista paced the former Turkish Airlines Euroleague team with 21 points and 12 rebounds while Adrien Moerman had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Thanks to those two players, the French side clearly won the rebounding battle 40-23 to make up for a lackluster 3-of-12 (25 percent) shooting performance from beyond the three-point stripe. J.R. Bremer led PAOK with 16 points while Marc Carter and Kevin Langford both scored 10 points in the loss.

Jake Odom started the game for Thessaloniki with a three pointer while Moerman gave Limoges its first lead at 4-3. Bremer came back and knocked down two three-pointers to give the Greek side a 6-11 lead. Ramel Curry got three points back with a long ball and Limoges was up 15-14 after 10 minutes after inside baskets by Batista and Ousmane Camara. Langford started the scoring in the second quarter and Pape-Philippe Amagou pushed Limoges back ahead. Carter and Georgios Dedas both hit three-pointers to give PAOK a 21-22 lead. The rest of the quarter continued back and forth with five lead changes and four ties, including the halftime score of 31-31.

Langford and Bremer both knocked down triples early in the third quarter to open a 35-39 advantage. Jamar Smith’s long ball was matched by another trey from Langford to make it 40-44. After Frejus Zerbo tied it at 44-44, Carter was again on target from long range for a 44-47 lead with 4:05 minutes left in the quarter. But PAOK would not score the rest of the quarter while Smith drained a triple and Curry scored at the buzzer for a 51-47 lead after 30 minutes. Langford and Bremer continued to do everything they could to keep PAOK in the game, trailing 53-51. But Moerman scored four points in a 10-0 run over more than three minutes as Limoges built a 63-51 cushion with 4:38 minutes to play. Dedas’s long ball stopped the scoring run but Batista was too much with two free throws and a three-point play down the stretch as PAOK would not get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.