Bourg cruises past Lietkabelis, 104-71, to move atop Group B
Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse got back to winning ways by thrashing 7bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys 104-71 at Ekinox in Round 15 of the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup Regular Season. The hosts were in control throughout the game and outscored Lietkabelis in three of the four quarters to secure a convincing home victory. Bourg improved to a 12-3 on the season and, when Dreamland Gran Canaria lost later in the evening, moved alone atop the group standings, while Lietkabelis dropped to 5-10, currently sitting two wins outside the playoff zone with three games to go.
Zaccharie Risacher led all scorers with 22 points and Maksim Salash scored 16, all of which came in the last quarter. Bryce Brown and Isiaha Mike had 15 points each and Jeremy Morgan recorded 11. For Lietkabelis, Nikola Popovic bagged 19 points and Deividas Sirvydis netted 15.
Mike opened the scoring with a powerful slam before Sirvydis and Risacher traded triples at 7-5. Risacher took his tally to 7 early points with a coast-to-coast slam and a fading jumper for a 9-0 Bourg run, 13-5. Morgan drilled a triple to extend his team’s lead to double digits, but Sirvydis nailed his second three-pointer of the night, 18-9. Then, a Popovic bucket, 3 Vytenis Lipkevicius free throws and a Stefan Bircevic triple after a smooth team move brought Lietkabelis within 20-17.
Despite Lietkabelis’s surge late in the first quarter, the hosts took a 5-point cushion into the second, but Lipkevicius and Dovis Bickauskis nailed a triple each to put the guests ahead, 22-23. Bodian Massa and Earl Rowland netted back-to-back buckets that were followed by 5 Brown points for a 9-0 Bourg run and a 31-23 lead. Baskets from Lipkevicius and Sirvydis were followed by buckets from Dziugas Slavinskas and Popovic to bring the visitors within 33-31 midway through the second quarter. But Bourg responded with a Mike layup and Risacher’s second dunk of the night to make it 37-31. A couple of Mike baskets were followed by another one from Rowland before Lipkevicius was ejected after committing his second unsportsmanlike foul in the first half, with Bourg heading into the second half up 47-36.
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Risacher hit back-to-back triples to take his tally to 17 points in less than 12 minutes on the floor, but Sirvydis’s third three-pointer of the night was followed by a Popovic put-back, 53-41. Popovic scored 4 points, but Mike responded with a triple before the former completed a three-point play, 58-48. Bickauskis and Gediminas Orelik sank one from deep each, but Brown hit one of his own to restore Bourg’s double-digit cushion, 66-55. A Jequan Lewis bucket was followed by a Brown three-pointer in transition before Sirvydis drilled another triple, 71-60, just before the third-quarter buzzer.
Bourg opened the closing quarter with 4 unanswered Maksim Salash points, an Axel Julien triple and a Brown layup in transition to extend the French side’s lead to 80-60 with 7 minutes left on the clock. The hosts stayed in cruise control for the remainder of the fourth quarter, where they outscored Lietkabelis 33-11 to clinch a comfortable win.