


LCLC ASVEL Villeurbanne beat EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 79-73 at Mediolanum Forum in a dramatic clash between the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague’s strugglers. Down the stretch, the visitors had more left in the tank as Milan threw away a five-point advantage, having led 62-57.
The French side had just 6 turnovers throughout the contest, compared to the 11 committed by Milan. Considering that several of the Italian team's turnovers came in the dying minutes when the chips were down, that contrast is made to be even bigger.
Ultimately, though, Milan paid the price for its awful three-point shooting, as the hosts sank only 4-of-21 shots from beyond the arc, while ASVEL hit 11-of-29.
Milan guard Billy Baron, the team’s most reliable sharpshooter, endured a torrid night as he finished the game on just 3 points, all of them from the foul line. Baron was 0-for-3 from three-point range, and his inability to get open underlined ASVEL’s ironclad defense, which denied him space and forced his teammates to take a barrage of tough long-range shots.
Milan dominated the boards as it racked up 39 team rebounds to ASVEL’s 22, but it came to no avail as the hosts were unable to make their dominance in the paint count.
The visitors hit 16-of-18 free throws, while Milan went 15-of-21, with most of those misses coming in the fourth quarter when the game hung in the balance.
Milan did a good job shooting from inside the arc, hitting 23 of its 35 shots, but ASVEL, who nailed 15 of 27, had the last laugh as it benefited from a more balanced offense, led by man-of-the-match Jonah Mathews, who amassed 17 points.