Prometey grabs first place with tight win over Joventut

Prometey Slobozhanske grabbed sole possession of first place in Group A by knocking off Joventut Badalona 95-90 at home on Wednesday. Prometey used a 9-2 late run to secure its sixth straight victory for a 9-4 record. DJ Kennedy paced the winners with 23 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, while Issuf Sanon had 19 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists and Caleb Agada tallied 15 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. Joventut dropped to 8-5 and 3-4 on the road despite four scorers in double figures; Joel Parra scored 17 points, Kyle Guy had 16, Henry Ellenson collected 14 points and 10 rebounds and Ante Tomic chipped in 13 points in the loss.
Prometey started lights out from long range with Kennedy hitting 2 triples and the team went 4-of-5 on three-pointers to race ahead 22-10. Joventut answered with the next 5 points and the gap was down to 25-20 on Leonardo Okeke’s three-point play. Prometey was up 26-20 after 10 minutes.
The home side held Joventut scoreless for the first 2 minutes of the second quarter and Sanon helped push the advantage to 35-20. Joventut got within 8 points multiple times, but then fell behind 45-32 and was down 49-38 at the break.
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Joventut came out of the locker room in strong form with Joel Parra scoring 5 points in a 2-11 surge to get within 51-49. Another Parra score put Joventut ahead 53-54. Sanon began taking over with 10 points - including 2 three-pointers - in a 16-0 Prometey finish to the third quarter and a 72-57 lead.
Joventut was not ready to concede defeat and Tomic and Guy combined for 9 points in a 4-12 start to the fourth and trim the deficit to 7 points. It was then Ellenson’s turn to step up with 8 points to make it 84-82. Andres Feliz cut the gap to 1 point on a three-pointer only to have Gian Clavell answer from deep for the hosts with 89 seconds left. Kennedy and Ondrej Balvin followed with baskets to deliver the knockout punch.