Bourg rolls to ‘home’ win in Venice

JL Bourg en Bresse took a big step towards the 7DAYS EuroCup Top 16 with an 87-59 rout of Umana Reyer Venice on Wednesday in a makeup game from Round 8. Bourg, which was technically the home team even though the game was played in Venice, improved to 4-2 and will clinch a Top 16 berth if it wins the postponed Round 3 showdown between the sides on Thursday night at the same arena. Shorthanded Reyer, which was without Andrea De Nicolao, Valerio Mazzola, Stefano Tonut and Mitchell Watt, fell to 2-4. Danilo Andjusic led five Bourg scorers in double figures with 21 points. Kadeem Allen and Zachery Peacock netted 13 points apiece, Pierre Pelos scored 11 and Thomas Scrubb added 10. Michael Bramos paced Reyer with 13 points, Austin Daye scored 12 and Jeremy Chappell 10. Reyer was playing without five regular contributors, Stefano Tonut, Mitchell Watt, Valerio Mazzola, Bruno Cerella and Andrea De Nicolao.

The shots started falling quickly for both teams. Bramos had 5 early points, but Andjusic went for 8 points in the first 5 minutes to give his team a 12-10 edge. Scrubb added a three and Allen scored a mid-range jumper and a layup-plus-foul in an 11-0 run that saw Bourg double Reyer's output, 20-10. Chappell ended the Reyer drought, scoring twice to make it 22-16. Pelos scored the final 5 points of the quarter to give Bourg a 27-16 lead after 10 minutes. After Julyan Stone hit from deep to trim the deficit, Luka Asceric and Maxime Courby hit back-to-back triples to give Bourg a 36-21 advantage. Bourg took control on the offensive glass through Pelos and continued padding its lead, which reached 17. Stone hit back with a three-point play, however, Peacock stretched the lead to 44-26. Stone and Chappell continued the Reyer fightback and Bramos buried a triple that made it 47-34 at the break.

After Daye scored to open the second half, Bourg responded with 8 straight points to push the margin to 19. After Andjusic and Bramos traded threes, the former stole a ball from Daye, drew an unsportsmanlike foul and sank the resulting free throws. Scrubb's put-back gave Bourg its first 20-point lead, 63-43. Peacock scored the last 5 points of the third quarter to make it 71-46. Luca Possami sank a hook shot and Leonardo Biancotto added a mid-range jumper for the two teenagers' first EuroCup points, but there was little else for Reyer to celebrate down the stretch as Bourg rolled to a comfortable victory.

Game-changing run

Isaac Fotu's basket that made it 9-10 in the first quarter would prove to be Reyer's last lead of the night. Danilo Andjusic and Thomas Scrubb responded with back-to-back three-pointers and Kadeem Allen scored the next 5 points to complete an 11-0 run and Bourg coasted the rest of the way.

Telling numbers

Bourg won all the hustle stats to turn the game into a blowout. Bourg outrebounded Reyer 43-35, including 13 offensive rebounds which it turned into 16 second-chance points. Bourg also had 9 steals, which were three times as many as Reyer. The winners forced Reyer into 16 turnovers and turned them into 24 points. In contrast, Bourg committed 12 turnovers, which became just 7 points for Reyer.

Youth served in Venice

A trio of Reyer teenagers got the chance to impress in this game. Davide Casarin, 17, played a career-high 24 minutes and matched his personal bests with 6 points and 3 assists. Leonardo Biancotto, 18, and center Luca Possami, 19, each made their EuroCup debuts and scored, too. Possami collected 5 rebounds in 13:38 and Biancotto played 9:04.

What's next?

These two teams will meet for the second time in as many nights on Thursday, December 3, when Reyer hosts their Round 3 makeup game.