The visitors dominated from the start to open the season in style
Bourg gives Hamburg no chance in road win, 80-100
Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse faced little opposition to open the season with a historic 80-100 victory at Veolia Towers Hamburg in Group B. Last season's runner-up, Bourg scored a club-record 64 points in the first half while forcing Hamburg into 23 turnovers for a 24-13 advantage in points off turnovers.
Adrian Nelson scored 18 points to lead Bourg while Jean-Marc Panda had 16 points, Xavier Castadena picked up 12 points and 5 assists and Hugo Benitez chipped in 9 points and 6 assists. Hamburg started the season with a loss again after dropping its first six games in 2023-24. Keondre Kennedy paced the German side with 17 points and Kenneth Ogbe added 15 points in the loss.
Game Videos
Bourg started the game at the Inselpark Arena on fire with the first 11 points and Castadena drained 3 triples for a 2-14 lead. Jaizec Lottie converted 2 layups for the hosts to get within 11-18, but Bourg’s offense just kept rolling as Pansa scored 6 points and the French side made two more threes in a 5-17 finish as the first quarter ended 16-35.
Kennedy poured in 8 points as Hamburg tried to stay in the game but Pansa moved to 12 points and the Bourg cushion grew to 24-45. Osaro Rich’s strong run for Hamburg made it 33-49, but the host’s defense continued to falter in allowing three more triples and Bourg led 40-64 at the break. It was a new club record for Bourg for the most points in a half, topping the 57 points the club scored five times, most recently in the second half against Lietkabelis in Round 15 last season.
Hamburg managed to trim the gap to 50-70 before Bourg increased the margin back to 25. Zsombor Maronka sandwiched three-pointers around a Kennedy triple and Hamburg was within 61-77. The guests responded with the next 5 points and led 61-82 after 30 minutes. Bourg tallied the first 4 points of the fourth quarter as the advantage grew to 25 points and Hamburg was not able to get closer than 18 points the rest of the way.