Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse took sole possession of first place in Group A by beating Joventut Badalona 80-85 at Palu Olimpic on Tuesday night. The visitors trailed by doubñe-digits in the second quarter, but they struck back in the second half and allowed just 14 points in the fourth quarter to win the game. Bourg improved to 5-1 while Joventut dropped to 4-2.
Bourg stuns Joventut, 80-85, to move atop Group A
James Palmer led the way for Bourg with 23 points and 5 assists. Pierre Pelos posted 13 points and 5 rebounds and Jordan Floyd provided 11 points and 3 steals. Henry Elenson had 16 points for Joventut and Pep Busquests scored a career-high 15 points in the losing effort.
Busquets got the hosts going with 3 three-pointers in 5 minutes for an early 13-10 home lead that Kyle Guy and Elenson extended to 20-12. The visitors also found some offensive momentum with rotations, though, and finished the first quarter trailing 24-19. Maxime Courby and Axel Julian combined from downtown to give Bourg its first lead, 26-27, early in the second. The home team reacted in style with a 14-2 run based on a smooth offense to earn a double-digit margin, 40-29, but Bourg responded with the same weapon; offense, as it scored 18 points in 5 minutes to reach halftime down 48-45.
Game Videos
In a replay of what happened in the second quarter, Bourg managed to get ahead 52-53 after Frantz Massenat drilled a three soon after the break. Joventut didn’t react as strongly as it did before, but managed to chain together a couple of threes from Pau Ribas and Zsombor Maronka to enter the last stanza up 66-65. Pelos put Bourg in front 68-74 with 7 points in a row, boosting visitors’ confidence, which was a key factor when Tomic and Elenson took the reins to even things at 78-78 entering crunch time. Julian drilled a corner three and Palmer added a free throw for a 78-82 edge, and even though Pau Ribas scored to make it a one-possession game with 28 seconds to play and Palmer could only convert once from the line, consecutive misses from behind the arc by Andres Feliz and Elenson ruined all Joventut hopes of a miracle comeback.