The French side produced a 13-2 run in the final 77 seconds of the contest to reach the last eight
Bourg seals quarterfinal berth with last-gasp win over London
Izveštaji utakmica
3 Min čitanja
Regular Season
Round 17 of 18
Regular Season
group b
Cosea JL Bourg-en-BresseJLB
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London LionsLDN
group b
Overview
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The BKT EuroCup produced one of the most dramatic games of the season in Round 17 as Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse ground out an 86-85 home win over the London Lions and booked an automatic quarterfinal berth by sealing a top-two finish in Group B with a game to spare.
Bourg, which improved to 13-4 and stayed top of the Group ahead of Besiktas GAIN Istanbul (12-5), will head to Buducnost VOLI Podgorica next week knowing that a win would seal the group’s top spot ahead of the postseason.
The top two teams from both groups get a bye in the first knockout round of the competition, where eight teams – four from each group - will fight it out for the four remaining quarterfinal spots. Bourg must have thought it was heading for those rocky waters after London wiped out a 44-34 halftime deficit and took a seemingly unassailable 73-83 lead with just 1:17 minutes left on the clock.
The home fans prayed for a miracle and the duo of Darius McGhee and Assemain Moulare delivered as they scored 12 of the home team’s last 13 points in a frantic climax to a rollercoaster that will long live in the memory of the home faithful.
McGhee unleashed his venom as he buried a pair of shots from deep coupled with 3 straight free throws, before Moulare hit nothing but net – from McGhee’s assist – on the final buzzer to spark a delirium in the gym as Bourg players were mobbed by joyous fans who had gone almost silent as the Lions roared their way back.
Bourg seemed to be cruising after a solid first half and then got brushed aside 10-26 in the third quarter, playing catch-up in the fourth and struggling before the monumental home straight saw them stagger across the finish line in the nick of time.
“I work hard for every moment and I am so grateful I made that shot,” a delighted Moulare said in his postgame comments as he gasped for air and found himself at a loss for words. “We played well in the first half, but they came back and made some crazy shots. We never gave up and stayed in the game because it’s not over until it’s over and we won in the end. I am grateful to be a part of this team and we’ve put in a lot of hard work throughout the season to be in the top two,” the 23-year-old guard added.
Moulare and McGhee sank 17 points each while Both Gach paced Bourg on 19, having also hit some clutch threes when the home team started to struggle on offense. Anthony Labanca and Vincent Mitchell scored 10 apiece as Bourg shot 11 of 29 from deep and 25 of 34 from the line, having lost the battle of the boards 29-37 to an athletic Lions team.
Having asked his men to stay together no matter what in a desperate plea during Bourg’s final timeout, head coach Frederic Fauthoux could not hide his elation after seeing his men claw out the victory from the Lions’ grasp.
“I am so proud of my team and tonight we saw their big heart as we never gave up,” said the former French international guard. “We’ve done a very good job, so now we need to recover and see what happens next week.”
Bourg will likely need a win in Podgorica to make sure it finishes top of the group while London, which dropped to 5-12 and had only pride to play for in France as it had long since lost any hope of making the postseason, gave Coach Tautvydas Sabonis a bitter pill to swallow after coming so agonizingly close to staging a major upset.
“We did a great job in the third quarter, but the problem is that we got excited too early and allowed them to hit some threes,” Sabonis said. “We didn’t do what we were supposed to and things like this can happen.”
Ethan Price paced the Lions with a game-high 21 points and Tarik Phillip netted 17 to go with 4 rebounds and 5 assists, having shot 4 of 5 from the floor and 7 of 9 from the line. However, the duo’s dynamic performances will come as scant consolation for a missed opportunity to claim a big road win against one of the competition’s heavyweights.
