The home team's center finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks
Neal Sako’s block at buzzer gives ASVEL first victory
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 2 of 34
Group Regular Season
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LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne collected its first victory of the season in thrilling fashion as Neal Sako’s block at the buzzer secured an 87-85 win over Virtus Segafredo Bologna at home. ASVEL lost a 13-point third-quarter lead but never allowed Virtus to pull ahead and now has a 1-1 record.
Sako finished the game with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks while Theo Maledon scored 17 points with 5 assists and Nando De Colo added 16 points and 8 assists. Virtus fell to 0-2 despite Isaia Cordinier scoring 23 points to go with 5 rebounds and 6 assists and Mouhamet Diouf scored 15 points.
Admiral Schofield knocked down 2 three-pointers as ASVEL opened a 13-8 lead. Cordinier scored 7 points at the other end and Virtus was down just 14-13. De Colo started taking over with 7 points in an 18-6 run for a 32-19 advantage. Virtus made 2 three-pointers on its end but Mbaye Ndiaye and De Colo were on target from deep for the hosts, who were up 38-27 after 10 minutes.
Joffrey Lauvergne’s score to open the second quarter pushed the lead to 40-27. Virtus got a triple from Matthew Morgan to trim the deficit to 42-34 only to have back-to-back layups from Maledon push the margin to 13 again. Cordinier and Toko Shengelia combined for 10 points and the visitors were down just 57-49 at the break.
Virtus needed nearly 3 minutes to score in the third quarter and ASVEL once again established a 13-point lead, 62-49. Virtus’s defense started getting stops and at the other end reeled off 13 straight points to tie the game at 68-68. Shaquille Harrison answered with a three-pointer and ASVEL was up 73-70 after 30 minutes.
The score was tied at 74-74, 79-79, 81-81 and 83-83 with less than 3 minutes left but the French side did not break. In making the score 83-81, De Colo scored his 4,500th point - becoming just the second player in EuroLeague history after Mike James to achieve that mark. De Colo and Cordinier scored 2 points and it was tied 85-85 with 100 seconds to play. Sako and Maledon both split two free throws in the final 63 seconds, setting up the final play in which Cordinier drove to the basket but was met at the top of his jump by Sako for the game-saving block.
