The hosts led from start to finish in a well-earned victory
Paris dominates ASVEL, 91-82, in French derby
Paris Basketball recorded its third straight home win by defeating LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 91-82 at Adidas Arena on Thursday night. The hosts led from start to finish and managed to absorb ASVEL’s comeback attempts in the second half. Having gotten back to winning ways after a loss at Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade last week, Paris improved its record to 14-9. ASVEL dropped to 11-13.
Maodo Lo paced Paris with 18 points and Tyson Ward netted 16, with Nadir Hifi and TJ Shorts scoring 14 and 13, respectively. For ASVEL, Andre Roberson led all scorers with 20 points, having gone 6-for-8 from deep. Theo Maledon combined his 18 points with 6 assists and 4 rebounds. Joffrey Lauvergne scored 12 points and Nando De Colo added 10.
Game Videos
Kevarrius Hayes got Paris going from inside before a trademark midrange jumper by Shorts and a layup from Tyson Ward gave Paris a 6-0 lead. Maledon responded with a three-point play and Roberson tied it up from deep. Yet, Lo took over with 5 straight points to restore an 11-6 cushion. Ben Bentil netted his first basket for ASVEL, but Ward hit another one from downtown to make it 14-10. Collin Malcolm drilled back-to-back buckets and Ward scored in transition, but Roberson beat the first-quarter buzzer with a three to bring ASVEL within 20-15.
Paris opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run fueled by Shorts, who set up Mikael Jantunen for a triple before scoring inside. But Roberson and Paris Lee nailed consecutive threes, with Joffrey Lauvergne making a couple of free throws that trimmed the deficit to 27-23. Hifi connected from beyond the arc twice before Yakuba Ouattara drained one of his own to make it 36-24. An exchange of blows inside was followed by another Hifi triple for a 44-31 advantage. Then, the game turned into a free-throw affair before a triple from Jantunen and a jumper by Shorts gave Paris a 54-40 cushion after 20 minutes.
Roberson nailed his fourth triple of the night before Lee and Shorts traded scores inside, 58-45. Maledon made 6 of 7 from the line, with a Lee basket and another three from Roberson slicing the difference down to 62-57. Lo netted inside and Bandja Sy scored one from deep to extend the margin to 67-58. Shaquille Harrison answered with a layup on the other end before David Lighty and Shorts traded buckets, with Paris maintaining a 69-64 lead heading into the closing quarter.
Harrison opened the fourth with a pull-up jump shot, but Ward scored twice from deep and Shorts went all the way to the basket for a 10-0 surge that made it 79-66. Lauvergne scored 5 straight points before Roberson’s sixth triple of the night brought ASVEL within 81-74. But Ouattara netted back-to-back baskets and a Lo layup made it 87-74. ASVEL tried to fight back through Maledon and De Colo in crunch time, but Paris ran down the clock to clinch the victory.