Both teams now hold a 7-9 record
ASVEL stuns Partizan for first road win, 79-82
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne rallied in the second half to stun Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade 79-82 at Belgrade Arena on Tuesday night. This was ASVEL's first road win of the season and it saw the team improve to a 7-9 record, the same as Partizan, which had its five-game winning streak snapped.
Partizan led 51-42 in the third quarter, but ASVEL netted 7 three-pointers on 8 attempts in the third quarter to take a 65-66 lead, and it never trailed the rest of the way. Theo Maledon paced the winners with 21 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Joffrey Lauvergne collected 17 points plus 9 rebounds, Nando De Colo scored 14 and Melvin Ajinca added 10 for ASVEL. Duane Washington had 22 points and 8 assists for Partizan, Tyrique Jones had 16 points and Sterling Brown scored 15 in a losing effort.
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Lauvergne and Maledon scored all of ASVEL's points in a game-opening 2-11 run, including Maleon's triple. Koprivica ignited Partizan with a pair of dunks and a block, while a triple apiece from Brown and Isaac Bonga got the hosts within 14-16. The hosts went in front 20-19 on a fast-break dunk from Brown, but Lauvergne continued troubling Partizan in the paint and a three-pointer from Melvin Ajinca got ASVEL a 21-24 lead after 10 minutes.
Neal Sako dominated inside in the opening moments of the second quarter, stringing together 7 points to open a 22-31 lead. But Tyrique Jones and Washington had back-to-back three-point plays, and Washington remained hot, scoring four times taking the ball to the rim. His basket put Partizan up 38-37, then his floater and a triple to finish the half made it 45-39 at the break.
Tyrique Jones and Washington extended the margin to 51-42, but back-to-back threes from Maledon and Paris Lee started ASVEL's rally. Another triple from Maledon cut the deficit to 53-51. Bonga nailed a triple for the hosts, but Maledon had a layup high off the glass and De Colo netted a three to tie the game at 58-58. Brown answered with a three-pointer, but ASVEL ended the quarter with back-to-back threes from De Colo and Ajinca, the latter being a buzzer-beater to give the visitors a 65-66 lead after 30 minutes.
De Colo with a jumper and Lauvergne with a tip-in opened 65-70. Brown hit a triple to make it a single-point game, but Lauvegne had another tip-in and Maledon beat the shot clock with a corner triple to give the visitor 69-75 margin. Washington took it to the rim, but Sako scored after another offensive rebound. Tyrique Jones's dunk made it 73-77 with 4:35 to go, but teams did not make another field goal until Carlik Jones made a jumper with 1:43 left and 76-78. Partizan had a possession to tie, but Carlik Jones missed a jumper, only for De Colo to hit a second-chance step-back with 12.6 seconds left, as ASVEL pulled out a win.