Valencia reached the 100-point mark for the 11th time this season
Valencia rallies to clinch 1st place, eliminate Bourg
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Valencia Basket came back from a 14-point deficit to pull out a 100-98 win over visiting Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse in the last game of the BKT EuroCup Regular Season. Valencia finished with a 16-2 record and will have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, while this loss eliminated Bourg, which finished with a 9-9 record in Group B.
When the game tipped off, Bourg knew it needed to win to make the playoffs, and was firing on all cylinders in the first half. Valencia caught up in the third quarter, but Bourg spent most of the second half with a slim lead before Valencia pulled out a victory that ended Bourg’s season.
Chris Jones led six Valencia scorers in double figures with 17 points, Xavi Lopez-Arostegui had 15, Nate Sestina netted 14 points. Nate Reuvers and Brancou Badio scored 12 apiece, while Stefan Jovic collected 10 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds. For Bourg, Maksim Salash led the way with 18 points, Joel Ayayi and Jordan Usher each scored 15, Jean-Marc Pansa added 12, Xavier Castaneda 11, while Hugo Benitez had 10 points and 8 assists.
Game Videos
Sestina nailed a three-pointer, but the visitors forced 5 turnovers and scored the next 15 points behind Salash, Usher and Ayayi to open a 5-17 lead. Even though Josep Puerto nailed a triple, the visitors kept the lead in double figures. Sestina and Badio revived Valencia with a triple apiece to help make it 18-27 after 10 minutes.
Badio and Lopez-Arostegui got the Valencia offense going in the second quarter, but Brandon Paul hit back-to-back threes to restore a double-digit margin, 25-37. The teams traded baskets and Valencia youngster Jorge Carot scored twice to get the margin into single digits. Salash, Kevin Kokila and Ayayi quickly restored a 37-50 margin. However, before the end of the half, Badio and Sestina each made threes while Lopez-Arostegui had a three-point play to get the deficit within 50-54 at halftime.
Three-pointers from Jones and Jovic gave Valencia a 60-58 lead early in the third, but Bourg replied with a 2-12 run which featured five different scorers, and was sparked by a step-back corner triple from Ayayi. Sestina ended the run, but Bourg kept the margin safe through Benitez and Salash, before jones and Semi Ojeleye scored in the final minute to make it 72-76 going into fourth quarter.
Badio and Jovic scored the first 6 points of the fourth quarter to put Valencia up again. After Brandon Jefferson and Ojeleye traded three-pointers, Jones had a three-point play. Usher and Ayayi each nailed a triple to make it 84-87. Jovic answered right back with a three-pointer, but Pansa and Usher restored Bourg's slim lead twice more. Ayayi’s driving layup made it 92-93, but that was Bourg’s last lead with 1:40 to go. Lopez-Arostegui scored the next 4 points, before Valencia’s defense preserved the lead.