After losing all of an early 19-point lead, Bourg regrouped to stay perfect at home in Group B.
Bourg holds off Aris, 72-65, to stay perfect at home



Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse started and finished strong to turn back visiting Aris Midea Thessaloniki with a 72-65 decision on Tuesday. Bourg improved to 5-2 to retain a share of second place in Group B with a perfect 4-0 home mark. Aris fell to 3-4 despite having rallied to take a brief lad after falling behind on the scoreboard 11-0 after tipoff and 23-4 late in the first quarter.
Teenager Zaccharie Risacher led the winners with 16 points. Isiaha Mike added 14, Jeremy Morgan 12 and Bryce Brown 10. Aris got 15 points each from Kris Bankston and Vassilis Toliopoulos, while Ronnie Harrell added 14, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Aris reeled back its 19-point deficit with a 12-26 second quarter and took a brief advantage in the third before Risacher scored 8 points in a 10-2 run, after which the visitors did not challenge for the lead again.
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A triple by JeQuan Lewis in his EuroCup debut and a big block by Kevin Kokila highlighted Bourg's 0-11 opening run. The hosts would hold Aris scoreless for 5 minutes until Bankston tipped in his own miss. Nonetheless, Maksim Salash's second layup, Mike's back-to-back layups and Brown's triple made it 23-4 already. It was all Bankston could do to cut it to 25-8 after 10 minutes. Harrell and Toliopoulos quickly cut the difference for Aris, and the latter's jumper soon lowered it to single digits, 27-18. Brown and Marcus Carr exchanged triples before Bankston and Roberto Gallinat got Aris within 34-29. Toliopoulos buried a triple from near halfcourt on the halftime buzzer to make it 37-34.
Out of the lockers, Surtan Sanogo's flip-in gave way to Toliopoulos drilling a go-ahead triple at 37-39, completing Aris's comeback from 19 points down, 23-4, just 12 minutes earlier. After a 41-41 tie, Risacher almost single-handedly restored Bourg's advantage with a corner triple, a step-back jumper and a fastbreak layup to make it 51-43. Still, Bankston, Toliopoulos and Marcus Carr kept Aris close, 53-49, after three quarters. Morgan and Brown stretched the difference to 59-41 early in the fourth, but Harrell's banked-in triple held the visitors in it, 60-54, with 6 minutes left. Risacher rescued the moment with a triple and fastbreak layup, both created by his teammates, and Bourg had its double-digit lead back, 65-54. Harrell willed Aris back within 67-60 and Gallinat's free throws cut it to 67-62 with 90 seconds left, but Morgan answered from the corner to let the Bourg fans breathe easier the rest of the way.