


Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade downed LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 60-76 on Friday but could not enjoy the fruits of its three-game winning streak due to other results forcing its elimination from the playoffs race. Despite lifting its record to 15-17, Zvezda cannot finish in any tiebreaker that features Baskonia, which has 17 wins already and sits in eighth place. ASVEL dropped to 8-24 with its 11th straight defeat. It was ASVEL's final EuroLeague home game at the Astroballe this season.
Ognjen Dobric paced the winners with 18 points on 4-of-5 three-point shooting. Facu Campazzo added 11 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Luca Vildoza and Ben Bentil each had 10 points for Zvezda, which only allowed ASVEL to score 18 points after the break. Nando De Colo led ASVEL with 14 points. Dee Bost and Charles Kahudi each added 11 for the hosts.
Kahudi and De Colo each scored around the basket for a 4-0 ASVEL lead. Zvezda found a go-to guy in Bentil, who struck twice from downtown and added a layup to give the guests a 9-12 lead. De Colo and Yves Pons stepped up for ASVEL, Alex Tyus dunked and Jonah Mathews's jumper helped ASVEL regain a 17-15 edge after 10 minutes. Vildoza and John Holland each struck from downtown for a 19-23 Zvezda lead. Filip Petrusev stopped the show with a huge dunk and Dobric's triple restored a 29-30 Zvezda lead. De Colo had 5 points in a 7-0 run that gave ASVEL a 36-30 edge. Kahudi's three-point play soon made it a double-digit game, 42-32. Vildoza got Zvezda within 42-37 at halftime.
Campazzo hit a floater, found Stefan Markovic for a three-pointer and fed Bentil for a fastbreak slam that put Zvezda in charge, 44-46. Zvezda found a new go-to guy in Ognjen Kuzmic, who got help from Campazzo and Petrusev to get a five-point margin, 51-56, after 30 minutes. Campazzo kept pacing Zvezda, Dobric scored around the basket and Petrusev's tip-in boosted the guests' lead to 53-62. Dobric struck from downtown to cap a 0-9 run, 53-65. Nothing really changed in the final 6 minutes, as Zvezda started to use longer possessions to run the clock down and cruised to a well-deserved win.