The visitors shot just 1 of 26 from three-point territory
Paris holds off a misfiring Baskonia, 67-65
Paris Basketball registered its third straight win in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, this time in a low-scoring affair, as it held off the visiting Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 67-65 on Friday night at Adidas Arena. Both teams hold a 4-3 record after the first month of the regular season.
Paris led for the majority of the contest and struggled a bit offensively, but not as much as Baskonia, which shot a club-record low 1 for 26 from three-point range. Paris had no scorers in double figures, with TJ Shorts, Nadir Hifi and Tyson Ward each netting 9 points. Ward also had 7 rebounds while Mikael Jantunen collected 8 points and 8 rebounds. Chima Moneke shined for Baskonia with 19 points and 12 rebounds, Donta Hall recorded 11 points and 8 rebounds, and Markus Howard scored 10 points but on 1-for-11 three-point shooting.
Game Videos
Hall and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot each had a dunk in the early minutes of the game as teams played with pace but did not produce much on offense. Ward did hit a pair of triples for the hosts, making it 10-8, before a pair of close-range baskets from Hifi pushed it to 14-10. Hall had two more dunks which helped Baskonia tie the game at 14-14, but Collin Malcolm and Bandja Sy allowed Paris to hold an 18-16 edge after the first 10 minutes.
Kevarrius Hayes and Shorts scored inside before baskets from Yakuba Ouattara and Leon Kratzer extended it to 26-18. Back-to-back triples from Sy and Maodo Lo increased the margin to 33-22, but Khalifa Diop worked inside and Trento Forrest had a runner to cap a 0-7 run for the visitors. Moneke ruled on the offensive glass and had a three-point play after one of them to close the gap to 35-33, but a triple from Jantunen helped the hosts to head into the halftime break with a 38-35 lead.
Ward had a transition triple and Shorts a fast-break layup before Jantunen's triple made it 46-40. Baskonia's basket were coming inside or from the free-throw line, while back-to-back threes from Lo and Hifi opened a 54-44 margin. Kamar Baldwin and Moneke cut into the deficit, but Jantunen's second-chance basket made it 57-48 at the end of the third quarter.
Howard opened the fourth quarter with a triple, Baskonia's first and only triple, after 17 misses to open the game. Nikos Rogkavopoulos muscled his way to a basket inside, and Howard made a floater to cut to 61-56. But Malcolm hit a jumper before Lo banked a shot to give Paris a 65-57 lead. Moneke's basket kept hope alive for the visitors, but Shorts sealed the deal with a runner. Baskonia scored the final 5 points of the game, but it was too little too late for a comeback.