Bourg made it two wins out of two with a hard-fought 72-79 victory at Trento, which must wait for its first victory of the season.
Bourg starts Group B 2-0 with win at Trento



MincideliceJL Bourg en Bresse maintained its strong start to the season with a hard-fought 72-79 victory at winless Dolomiti Energia Trento . Bourg now occupies the top rung in Group B with a 2-0 record, while Trento goes back to the drawing board after dropping a pair to start the season.
The French team took early control, and withstood a Trento fightback to lead at the break, 38-44. The second half saw Bourg repeatedly grab small leads but Trento refused to go quietly and kept battling until the latter stages, when Bourg finally enjoyed the comfort of a double-digit lead.
Bryce Brown paced Bourg with 17 points, while Hugo Benitez directed the offense with 10 points and 9 assists. Maksim Salash (13), Isiaha Mike (12) and Kevin Kokila (11) also scored in double digits for the winner. Trento's Paul Biligha came close to a double-double with 17 points and 9 rebounds, and Quinn Ellis added 14 points in defeat.
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It was a fast-paced start which saw Bourg jump to a 7-12 lead with a pair of buckets from Kokila. Brown scored 6 points in a hurry but Toto Forray matched that to bring the host back, 23-23, after 10 minutes. Baskets were evenly traded early in the second quarter before Kamar Baldwin's triple gave Trento a rare lead, 31-29. Long-range strikes from Jeremy Morgan and Brown brought Bourg back in front, 37-39, and Brown's buzzer-beating layup extended the margin to 38-44 for the visitors at the interval.
Mike hit a couple of quick-fire three-balls early in the second half as Bourg threatened to pull away, but two scores from Ellis kept Trento hoping before Biligha added 5 fast points to tie it up, 57-57. Both offenses struggled at the end of the third, which finished 59-62 after a three-pointer by Zaccharie Risacher. A smooth alley-oop between Ellis and Myles Stephens tied it, 63-63, early in the final period, but three-pointers from Brown and Salash pushed Bourg back ahead. Inside scores from Benitez and Salash stretched it to 67-77, the first double-digit margin, and it was too late for Trento to respond.