Bourg-en-Bresse could hardly have dreamed of a better outcome for the tenth anniversary celebration of its venue, Ekinox. Facing Monaco, who had not lost on the national scene for three months, Frédéric Fauthaux’s side outdid themselves again to hand the leader in Batclique Elite his second defeat of the season and thus prevent him from breaking into the standings.
Mike James went to rest
Embarking on a hellish schedule, facing (and beating) Partizan Belgrade on Wednesday and Fenerbahce on Friday in the EuroLeague, the Roca team opted to rest its superstar Mike James this Sunday. Despite Elie Okobo’s good game (12 points, 4 assists) and Mathieu Strezel’s return from injury, his absence clearly disrupted the Monegasque game (21 turnovers for just 10 assists).
Thus Monegasque chased the score for almost the entire meeting. Clumsy at the start of the match, they let the locals take an early advantage (21-12) before the situation leveled off before the break (36-34), once the target was found at three points. The duel then turned rough and several whistles set the match into a false rhythm which Borg managed to capitalize on thanks to his supercharged replacement pivot, Bodian Massa (14 points), who restored his team to a twelve-length lead. Third quarter (59-47).
19 wins in 21 matches for Borg
It was then that Jordan Lloyd (14 points), so wise until then, staged a coup and once again brought his team back into the game less than five minutes from the buzzer (67-64), but the Bresson collective team held on and held on. Their lead is thanks to their solid values Isiah Mike (12 points), Jaquan Lewis (12 points, 6 assists) and Kevin Kokila (11 points).
Despite a transparent matchup of his nugget Zachary Risacher (18 years old, 0 points on 0/5 on shots), the Borg squad showed a lot of composure, despite some avoidable mistakes in money time. When we’ve won 19 of our last 21 matches, it’s no longer surprising. The Bresson club, who have already qualified for the quarter-finals of the EuroCup, can no longer let go of Aswell (second) in the championship standings… before facing ASM next Sunday to try to take on the role of the Dolphins.
