Dijon rallies late for road win in an all-French clash

Newcomer JDA Dijon edged fellow French side ASVEL Lyon Villeurbanne 77-78 on Wednesday, continuing its Eurocup debut in style. With two wins in as many games Dijon is in a share of Group B standings lead, while ASVEL dropped to 1-1. In a contest that featured 20 lead changes, Dijon hit 10 triples, and put together a late 0-8 run behind 5 points and an assists from Erving Walker, pulling out an important road win. Steven Gray netted 15 points, Walker finished with 12 points and 6 assists, while Zach Moss also scored 12. Andre Harris netted 11 in victory. Edwin Jackson paced the hosts with 14 points, Taurean Green had 13 points and 6 assists, while Travis Bader and David Andersen each scored 13 in defeat.

There were six lead changes and four ties in the first quarter alone, as Gray and Aldo Curti hit triples for Dijon, but Green hit one from downtown for the hosts, and Jackson added a triple of his own for 12-12. Harris and Green traded more triples, and Harris scored again from long range for Dijon’s fourth of the quarter, helping it to 19-20 lead. The visitors scored on the first five possessions in the second, with Jacques Alingue making a fastbreak dunk and a layup for 23-30. A triple from Antoine Mendy helped extend it to 26-35, before David Lighty answered from downtown and Amara Sy and David Andersen cut it to 34-37 at halftime.

Gray hit a three-pointer for Dijon at the start of the third, but Sy and Ahmad Nivins contributed in a 10-2 run, capped by a triple from Bader for 46-42. Dijon quickly regained the lead on Walker’s three-pointer, but Green and Andersen put ASVEL ahead again from the free throw line. Gray finished the quarter with another triple for 54-53, and teams kept trading leads in the fourth, with Zach Moss and Kris Joseph scoring for 60-61. Gray added his fourth from long range, but Alexandre Chassang and Lighty put ASVEL in front 66-64. Jackson followed it with 8 straight points, including a basket-plus-free throw and a triple for 74-70 with 2 and a half minutes to go. But Walker assisted Harris for a three-pointer, then hit a jumper himself, before grabbing a defensive rebound and drawing an unsportsmanlike foul with 8 seconds to go. Walker sealed it with 3 of 4 foul shots in the final seconds for insurmountable 74-78 lead.