Limoges’s hot shooting too much for RETAbet

Limoges CSP kept its Top 16 hopes alive by shooting well from long range in an 86-74 home victory over RETAbet Bilbao Basket. Josh Carter nailed 3 three-pointers in leading Limoges with 16 points while William Howard was on target four times from outside for 14 points. Brian Conklin added 11 points and Axel Bouteille chipped in 10 points for Limoges, which made 12 of 25 three-pointers (48.0%) while also shooting 62.5% from two-point range. Limoges improved to 3-4 in Group C and dropped RETAbet to 1-6 in Veljko Mrsic’s first EuroCup game as new head coach. Alex Mumbru knocked down 4 three-pointers in scoring 16 points to go with 8 rebounds and 5 assists for RETAbet and Shane Hammink had 14 points in the loss.

The game started with Hammink and Dru Joyce swapping three-pointers. Limoges’s first lead came on Howard’s score at 9-7. RETAbet went back ahead 9-12 on a Mumbru three and Hammink dunk. Carter began to take control for the hosts with a layup and three-pointer in building a 19-15 advantage. Another Mumbru three and a Dejan Todorovic dunk on the break had RETAbet back ahead 19-20 before Carter hit from long range for a 22-20 Limoges lead after 10 minutes. The hosts held RETAbet scoreless for four minutes while Tautvydas Lydeka tallied 5 points to push the lead to 30-20. Lucio Redivo’s free throws snapped the scoreless drought and Redivo hit a three-pointer to cut the gap to 33-25. But Limoges kept RETAbet off the scoresheet for 4:36 minutes while Jean-Frederic Morency nailed a triple in pushing the margin to 43-25. Devin Thomas’s tip-in finally got RETAbet back on the board, but another Conklin basket had Limoges ahead 46-30 at intermission.

Bouteille opened the second half and got the cushion back to 18 points. RETAbet used threes to get back into the game with Hammink, Mumbru, Javi Salgado and Pere Tomas all nailing three-pointers in a 6-16 run to make it 54-46. A three-point play by Ricardo Fischer trimmed the gap to 58-53 late in the third quarter, but Limoges went ahead 62-53 when Danny Gibson beat the buzzer with a layup. Three-pointers by Gibson and Howard increased the gap once again to 18. RETAbet’s good shooting from long range couldn’t get it back into the game as Mumbru and Tomas’ triples were matched by Bouteille and the gap was 81-63 inside the final five minutes. The guests tried to come back one more time with two Hammink dunks to make it 81-68. But Carter and Joyce answered at the other end to kill any hopes of a rally.