Johnson-Odom, Cantu defeat Limoges
FoxTown Cantu led from start to finish, defeating Limoges CSP 68-57 on Wednesday night. Two sides are tied in the second place of Group J with 2-2 record, and with two head-to-head matches each decided by an 11-point margin. Cantu built a double-digit lead behind Darius Johnson-Odom in the first quarter, and extended it to 41-24 at halftime. Margin reached 24 points in the fourth quarter, before Limoges scored 13 unanswered points and ensured it does not lose by a margin than its win last week against the same opponent. Johnson-Odom led Cantu with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals, while Damian Hollis and Eric Williams scored 12 apiece. Jamar Smith had 12 points in defeat, Adrien Moerman collected 11 points and 9 rebounds, while J.P. Batista added 10.
Cantu had a strong start to the game, with a pair of dunks from Eric Williams, couple baskets from DeQuan Jones, and a triple from Darius Johnson-Odom for 11-6. J.P. Batista scored 6 points in the first quarter for the visitors, but a triple from Damian Hollis and a pair of dunks in the last minute from Johnson-Odom extended it to 23-12 after the first quarter. Ramel Curry and Jamar Smith tried to get Limoges' offense going in the second quarter, keeping the visitors within 31-21, and Nobel Boungou-Colo hustled to add a put-back to the tally. However, back-to-back three-pointers from Awudu Abass and James Feldeine sent Cantu up 41-24 at halftime.
While Williams and Johnson-Odom kept Cantu lead safe after the break, Smith and Curry kept the hosts from running away to a bigger lead, and baskets from Adrien Moerman and Mickael Gelabale cut it to 48-37. But Johnson-Odom had couple more baskets, including a fastbreak dunk, then followed it with a three-pointer for 55-37 at the end of the third quarter. Cantu scored the first 6 points of the fourth quarter to extend it to 61-37, but Limoges never gave up. Boungou-Colo sparked things with a steal and a fastbreak bucket, Batista added a pair of baskets, before Gelabale and Moerman hit back-to-back triples for 63-54. In the final minute, both teams kept going to the free throw line, and Damian Hollis made a pair with 6 second remaining to make it 68-57, the same 11 point-margin as the game in Limoges finished.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
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