The visitors made 7 threes in the second quarter to set the foundations for the win
Bourg demolishes short-handed Reyer, 66-88, to remain unbeaten
Game Report
3 Mins read
Cosea JL Bourg-en-Breese showed no mercy against Umana Reyer Venice to record a convincing 66-88 win at Palasport Taliercio on Tuesday night that gave it a 3-0 record after 3 rounds. The hosts, who fell to 1-2, were without several important players as Xavier Munford, Tyler Ennis, Jordan Parks and Amadeo Tessitori couldn’t take the floor for Reyer. After a balanced first period, Bourg got going in the second quarter thanks to an incredible accuracy from behind the arc to build a 36-44 edge that grew to 20+ entering the last period.
Kevin Kokila paced the winners with 15 points - including 13 in the third quarter. Jean-Marc Pansa and Xavier Castanea followed with 10 apiece. Mfiondu Kabengele signed off a monster double-double of 19 points and 15 boards for Reyer, while Aamir Sims and Davide Moretti joined him on offense with 16 and 13 points, respectively, in the losing effort.
Both teams swapped baskets in the early going, but since the hosts pushed hard in the paint, the visitors had a better response from the perimeter to hold on, 6-6. That’s when Sims showed up to make the first three of the night, which helped Reyer construct an 11-6 edge midway through the first period. Another bomb by Moretti right after the TV timeout seemed to get the Italians going, 14-8, but consecutive missed offenses gave Bourg a chance to come back through Joel Ayayi and Pansa, who combined to make it 14-13 entering the last minute. The visitors kept collecting value from bench players, as Brandon Paul used an unsportsmanlike foul drawn on Kyle Wiltjer to tie it from the line, 17-17, to finish the first quarter.
Paul continued rocking after the break with a corner three - the first for his team, that put the visitors on the right track. On the opposite side, Wiltjer’s misses from the line were a prelude to what was coming next, as back-to-back triples by Adrian Nelson and Maxime Courby fueled Bourg to a 19-28 advantage after 13 minutes. Reyer tried, but no one except Kabengele and Moretti were able to produce. Meanwhile, Bourg continued punishing from outside, nailing more triples with Castaneda joining the party to make it 27-36. Castaneda kept pulling the strings on offense for Bourg, as even though he missed 3 free throws in a row, it didn’t stop him from scoring another deep three soon after and the last bucket of the half to hold the visitors comfortably ahead, 36-44 at the end of the second quarter.
Jordan Usher and Kokila made it a double-digit lead for the first time in the game with consecutive inside buckets, turning on Reyer’s alarms, 36-48. Kabengele tried to come to the rescue once again for the home team, but he crashed against Kokila’s hottest moments. Kokila provided 9 of Bourg’s next 11 points to boost Bourg to a 44-59 lead right after a TV timeout, and Hugo Benitez made it from deep - his first, to make it even worse, 44-62, for the home side. Reyer seemed to keep losing power as the game went on, with Bourg easily finding points from each and every player who took the court. Nelson dug it deeper with another corner three that made Bourg surpass the 20-point mark, 48-69. Free throws and a buzzer-beater bucket off-the steal by Nelson closed the third period with the visitors dominating 53-76.
With the outcome no longer in doubt, Bourg’s offense slowed down a little bit early in the last stanza. As such, Pansa was the only one able to score for the visitors in the first 4 minutes, but Reyer didn’t take advantage of that to reduce the gap. Courby ended Bourg’s offensive drought with a couple of free throws to make it 59-80 and Usher followed. Reyer’s head coach Neven Spahija called for his second timeout of the quarter to give his team a needed push to finish the game in the best mood possible, but even though Moretti took over with a triple right after, he found no help to prevent Bourg from finishing over the 20-point mark.
