2020-21Regular SeasonRound 24
February 05, 2021 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 ASTROBALLE

ASVEL gets fourth straight win

LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne confirmed its outstanding form by downing AX Armani Exchange Milan 78-69 at the Astroballe on Friday. ASVEL improved to 10-14 and registered its fourth consecutive victory, while Milan dropped to 15-8 and saw its six-game winning streak come to an end. David Lighty led the winners with 16 points and Guerschon Yabusele added 14, while Norris Cole and Moustapha Fall each had 12 for ASVEL. Shavon Shields led Milan with 18 points while Zach LeDay added 14. Milan led most of the way and had a 54-60 lead with less than 8 minutes left. But Lighty, Howard and Cole fueled a game-changing 14-2 run which allowed ASVEL to win it down the stretch.

Malcolm Delaney got Milan going with a driving layup which Kevin Punter followed with a step-back jumper for a 0-4 lead. Lighty and Yabusele combined for all points in a 6-0 ASVEL run but Shields followed a dunk with a triple to restore an 8-9 Milan edge. Lighty and Shields traded layups, then LeDay sank a jumper for a 10-13 score. Ismael Bako dunked, getting help from Lighty and Cole to put ASVEL ahead, 16-15. Shields and Delaney each struck from downtown to give the guests a 20-23 lead after 10 minutes. Amine Noua scored off a spin move early in the second quarter and Diot added a three-pointer to make ASVEL regain a 25-23 edge. Kaleb Tarczewski and LeDay rescued Milan and Luigi Datome struck from beyond the arc for a 28-31 lead. Tarczewski erased Yabusele's jump hook with a layup and Michael Roll joined the three-point shootout to make ASVEL call timeout at 30-36. Fall scored again and Cole added a coast-to-coast layup, but Kyle Hines and Leday kept the guests ahead, 37-40, at halftime.

Punter and LeDay made it a seven-point game, 37-44, soon after the break. Matthew Strazel sank a jumper that Punter bettered with a triple. Shields nailed an off-balance jumper that made it a double-digit game, 39-49. Fall scored down low and Cole buried a floater to give ASVEL hope at 43-49. LeDay downed a jump hook but Yabusele brought the hosts even closer, 47-51. William Howard struck from way downtown and Bako made it a one-point game, 52-53. Roll sank his second triple to fix the score at 52-56 after 30 minutes. Shields hit back-to-back jumpers early in the fourth quarter but Paul Lacombe and Lighty got ASVEL within 57-60. Cole took over with consecutive jumpers and a running hook that gave the home side a 63-62 edge. Howard buried a 10-meter triple and Lighty hit a fadeaway jumper to make Milan stop the game at 68-62. Lighty erased Hines's layup with a jumper and added a three-pointer that sealed the outcome, 73-64, as Milan never recovered.

Game-changing moment

Shavon Shields gave Milan a 59-62 lead with over 6 minutes left. But then Norris Cole took over with a jumper and a running hook, igniting a 14-2 run in which William Howard struck from way beyond the arc and David Lighty added the remaining 7 points to boost ASVEL's lead to 73-64, enough to start celebrating.

Stellar stat

Two-point shots made the difference in this game. Milan hit just 18-of-49 shots inside the arc (37.5%), whereas ASVEL needed 10 fewer attempts to score 27 shots. Its two-point shooting percentage (71.1%, 27-of-38) is the club's third-best in EuroLeague history, close to its record - 72.7% against Khimki Moscow Region on December 26, 2019.

Did you know?

ASVEL has won four consecutive EuroLeague games for only the second time this century. Its only previous four-game winning streak bridged the 2002-03 and 2003-04 campaigns, downing Cibona Zagreb and Partizan Belgrade in February 2002, and defeating Virtus Bologna and Idea Slask Wroclaw in October 2002.

Pivotal performer

William Howard played a critical role with a couple of really long, late three-pointers that gave ASVEL a big boost. He finished with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists for a PIR of 17 in less than 18 minutes off the bench.

Next game

Both teams return to action in two weeks. Milan hosts Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on Tuesday, February 18 in a rematch of the 1987 and 1988 EuroLeague Championship Games. A day later, on Friday, February 19, ASVEL welcomes FC Bayern Munich.

David Lighty - LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne - EB20
Friday, February 5, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: PEREZ, MIGUEL ANGEL; PETEK, SASO; TRAWICKI, TOMASZ
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne20171526
AX Armani Exchange Milan23171613
End of Quarter1234
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne20375278
AX Armani Exchange Milan23405669
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
6 LACOMBE, PAUL 8:20 2 1/2       1 1 2   2     2 1 1
8 DIOT, ANTOINE 18:43 5 1/1 1/2     3 3 2   1     2 2 8
10 FALL, MOUSTAPHA 26:46 12 4/7   4/5 1 7 8 1   2 2     3 20
12 NOUA, AMINE 12:13 2 1/1 0/1         2             3
13 HAYES, KEVARRIUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 BAKO, ISMAEL 13:14 4 1/1   2/2   4 4     3 3   2 1 7
23 LIGHTY, DAVID 32:08 16 5/7 2/3 0/1 1 2 3 3 1 1       3 21
25 HOWARD, WILLIAM 17:16 9 0/1 3/5   1 6 7 2         1 1 15
28 YABUSELE, GUERSCHON 27:47 14 7/9 0/2 0/1 1 1 2 2   1   1 4 3 10
30 COLE, NORRIS 32:17 12 6/8 0/3 0/1   4 4 4   2     5 2 9
32 STRAZEL, MATTHEW 11:16 2 1/1       2 2 1   2     1 1 3
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 78 27/38 6/16 6/10 4 31 35 19 1 14 5 1 17 17 98
        71.1% 37.5% 60%
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
AX Armani Exchange Milan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 PUNTER, KEVIN 29:29 9 1/9 1/3 4/5   1 1 6   1     1 2 5
2 LEDAY, ZACH 34:33 14 6/10 0/2 2/2 3 2 5 1 1     1 2 4 16
3 MORETTI, DAVIDE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 MORASCHINI, RICCARDO 10:42   0/1 0/1     2 2 3 1       1   3
10 ROLL, MICHAEL 14:47 6   2/3     2 2 1         2   6
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 21:35 4 2/5     1 6 7   2 2 1 1 2   6
19 BILIGHA, PAUL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 CINCIARINI, ANDREA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
23 DELANEY, MALCOLM 29:34 9 1/8 1/4 4/5 1 3 4 1 1     2 3 6 5
31 SHIELDS, SHAVON 29:07 18 6/8 2/4   2 4 6     1     2 2 19
42 HINES, KYLE 18:25 6 2/4   2/2       2         2 2 6
70 DATOME, LUIGI 11:48 3 0/3 1/1     1 1 2       1 2 1 1
Team           3   3     1         2
Totals 200:00 69 18/48 7/18 12/14 10 21 31 16 5 5 1 5 17 17 69
        37.5% 38.9% 85.7%
Head coach: MESSINA, ETTORE

Head Coaches

PARKER, TJ
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"We had four turnovers in the second half, and then we got stop after stop after stop. That is how we have been winning our games, and the team is making a great effort. This is the EuroLeague, it is not easy, they have great players and made some tough shots. That is the way it is. After that, when we came back after halftime and came back with this different attitude, makes the difference. Every coach in the EuroLeague is a great coach. It is always a pleasure to go out there and me, as a rookie, to go against the best and try to do the best."
MESSINA, ETTORE
AX Armani Exchange Milan
"First of all, my congratulations to Coach TJ and his team. I think they played with great physicality, with great aggresiveness. They played very good defense for 40 minutes and that allowed them to come back in the fourth quarter. I think we played well for three quarters, even when it is not easy to attack their aggressive defense. Probably, we got tired in the fourth quarter and we were not so sharp. Of course, the post-up defense, for us, was a problem all night long. They attacked us early in the game with Yabusele in the post and then in the fourth quarter, Lighty made plays for himself and for his teammates when he had the ball close to the baseline. Unfortunately, you don't want to lose but it happens. We put in a huge effort but it was not enough. Now, we look to recover some of the players that we are missing and prepare for the next round of the EuroLeague and for the rest of the season."

Players

LIGHTY, DAVID
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"I think we came out in the second half. We showed ASVEL basketball. In the first half, they had a little bit higher energy than us and they got the 50-50 balls. We came out in the second half, played as a team together, didn't give up, kept fighting and, in the end, we came away with the win. We have to keep going. We are trying to take it one game at a time, that is all we can do. We had a goal at the beginning of the season and started off a little slow but we have to use this momentum and keep rolling."
FALL, MOUSTAPHA
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"It was a tough game. We knew we had to be prepared to compete against this team. We struggled at first but started to have our rhythm. It is a good win for us. I think we just found our rhythm. We have some new additions, moved Norris [Cole] to the 2 position and it has been huge for us so far. We found the right way to compete against this team."
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