Frederic Fauthoux's men are looking very impressive once again in 2024-25
Bourg rolls past Cluj, 84-71



Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse, last season’s BKT EuroCup finalist, improved to 2-0 with another strong showing as it downed U-BT Cluj-Napoca 84-71 at home in Group B. Bourg, which beat Veolia Towers Hamburg by 20 points on the road in Round 1, put the game away with a 26-10 third quarter and forced Cluj into 22 turnovers thanks to a club record 19 steals.
Xavier Castaneda led Bourg with 18 points, Adrian Nelson scored 11 points and both Mehdy Ngouama and Kevin Koklia added 10 points in the win. Cluj is left asking questions with a 0-2 record in the group despite Sasu Salin scoring 18 points and Zach Hankins picking up 17 points.
Game Videos
After Bourg opened the game with the first five points, Salin drained two three-pointers for a 7-8 lead. The hosts shut down Cluj for more than 3 minutes to build a 15-8 cushion. De’Shawn Stephens got Cluj within two points only to see Bourg close the first quarter with the final 7 points for a 24-15 advantage after 10 minutes.
Hankins stepped up for the guests early in the second quarter with two scores, an assist on a Kevin Hervey three-pointer and a blocked shot as Cluj tied the game 24-24. Bourg needed more than 3 minutes to finally score, but Cluj continued its push with triples by Mihai Maciuca and Salin for the 28-30 lead. Bourg regained control thanks to getting to the foul line with 7 free throws in an 11-2 run for a 39-32 lead. And the cushion was 42-36 at the break.
After a first half with 11 turnovers, Cluj committed three more turnovers and Castaneda scored 5 points in an 8-0 start to the second half and a 50-36 lead. Cluj couldn’t get on the scoreboard until after more than 2 minutes. Two straight baskets from Adrian Nelson increased the margin to 17 points - 59-42 - and the advantage just kept growing and was 68-46 after 30 minutes.
Ngouama tallied the first six points of the fourth quarter as the lead grew to 74-46. Bourg essentially took its foot off the gas and Cluj made it a bit more respectable with a 0-12 run to pull within 74-58 with 5 minutes left. The guests managed to get within 11 points in the final minute, but the result was never in doubt.