Boulogne Metropolitans 92 grabbed an important victory in its fight for home-court advantage for the first knock-out stage by knocking off Joventut Badalona 86-78 at home in Group A.
Metropolitans outlast Joventut, 86-68



Metropolitans won its fifth game in the last six to improve to 9-5 - including a 7-1 record at home. Jordan McRae paced the winners with 24 points, Will Cummings poured in 18 points with 6 assists, Tomer Ginat added 17 points and Miralem Halilovic 14 in the win. Joventut dropped its second straight road game to fall to 11-4. Simon Birgander led the visitors with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks, Brandon Paul scored 12 points, Derek Willis had 11 and Paul Ribas and Guillem Vives chipped in 10 points each in the loss.
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Simon Birgander opened the game for the visitors with a dunk and Joel Parra made it 2-6 after 2 minutes of action. The Joventut offense fell apart with 6 turnovers over the next 5 minutes while Jordan McRae scored 8 points in a 12-0 run to give Metropolitans a 14-6 lead. Pep Busquets stopped the drought and Derek Wilis scored 4 points before Vladimir Brodziansky’s three-point play trimmed the deficit to 20-15 after 10 minutes.
McRae’s next score pushed the advantage to 24-15. Brodziansky netted Joventut’s first points in the second quarter and Pau Ribas and Guillem Vives followed with three-pointers as the group leader got within 26-23. Steeve Ho-You-Fat converted a four-point play for Metropolitans only to see Birgander score 4 points and Ribas knock down another triple as Joventut closed to 35-32. McRae continued his outstanding game with a three-point play as the hosts extended the cushion to 40-32. Joventut finished the first half strong with a 1-8 spurt to go into the break down 41-40.
Birgander and Vives scored the first 4 points of the second half and Joventut led 41-44. Metropolitans missed 9 of its first 10 three-pointers of the game until Lahaou Konate’s triple put the guests back ahead. Vives responded from deep and the game went back and forth with five lead changes until Metropolitans put together a 10-2 surge, including a Ginat three-pointer, for a 60-53 cushion. McRae also hit from deep as the host’s cushion swelled to 65-57 before it was 65-59 after 30 minutes.
Metropolitans had the stronger start to the fourth quarter with Bandja Sy’s dunk giving the home side its first double-digit lead, 72-62. Willis countered with 5 points and Joventut would not go away down 74-69. Cummings made a layup and fed Ginat to push the gap to 9 with 3 minutes to play. Paul hit 3 free throws at the other end, but Ginat converted 4 points and it was an 84-74 lead with 81 seconds remaining. Cummings added a layup as Joventut could not get the defensive stops it needed for the road win.








































































































