Paris Levallois finished its Eurocup campaign on a winning note, using big second half to beat Union Olimpija Ljubljana 80-63. Victory improved previously eliminated Paris to 4-6 and into the fourth place in Group C, while denying Olimpija a chance to clinch the first place in the group. Olimpija can still finish first if last place Cimberio Varese (1-8) beats Ratiopharm Ulm (7-2) on the road, but if Ulm wins, it will be first, and Olimpija second. Paris pulled away at the start of the third quarter, opened up 64-51 after 30 minutes, before blowing the game open in the fourth quarter. Elton Brown, Andrew Albicy and Aloysius Anagonye each scored 13 points in victory, and Albicy also dished out 8 assists. Nicolas Lang and Giovan Oniangue added 11 points apiece for Paris. Sasu Salin was Olimpija’s top scorer with 20 points, and Alex Stephson had 15 points plus 7 rebounds in defeat.
Salin hit a triple, and Cederic Jackson added a basket-plus-foul in the opening minutes, but Albicy strung together 7 points for the hosts, and Oniangue added a triple for 16-12. Olimpija replied with 8 points from Salin, including back-to-back three-pointers, but Albicy nailed another one from downtown for the hosts and 23-24 after 10 minutes. Brown scored 10 points in the second quarter for the hosts, helping them to 36-30, but the visitors erased the deficit with Jakov Vladovic hitting twice behind the arc, and Salin sinking a triple as well, and Paris went into halftime with the slimmest of margins, 40-39. With Anagonye leading the way, the hosts scored first 7 points after the break. Stephson kept Olimpija in touch, cutting it to 52-47 but Albicy, and Anagonye fueled another hosts’ run, and Lang added a three-pointer to help build 64-49 late in the third quarter. Early in the fourth, Salin nailed a triple for the visitors, but Lang and Oniangue strung together a 12-0 run for Paris to pull away to 80-54, putting the game out of reach. In the remaining time, Olimpija finished the game with a 0-9 run, rounding out the scoring.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Eurocupbasketball.com