The win snapped Los Blancos’s three-game slide
Real Madrid defeats Shorts-less Paris, 85-96
Real Madrid ended its three-game losing streak by beating Paris Basketball 85-96 on Tuesday night at Adidas Arena. With their top scorer and best assist producer, TJ Shorts, missing out due to illness, the hosts saw Real Madrid lead for the last 32 minutes of the duel despite Maodo Lo stepping up big time in his teammate's absence. With the win, Los Blancos improved to 7-9, with Paris dropping to 11-5.
Facundo Campazzo paced Real Madrid with 19 points, Mario Hezonja scored 17, Dzanan Musa had 12 and Gabriel Deck added 11. Alberto Abalde and Walter Tavares netted 10 points each, with the latter completing a double-double by recording 14 rebounds. Lo led all scorers with a season-high 30 points, but it wasn’t enough. Nadir Hifi scored 21 points and Collin Malcolm had 11 in a losing effort.
Game Videos
Lo opened the scoring with a layup before triples from both Tyson Ward and the Paris guard gave the hosts an 8-2 lead. Then, Lo and Eli Ndiaye traded buckets before 4 points by Musa brought Real Madrid within 10-9. Hifi opened his account from inside, but Andres Feliz responded with a basket off the glass before Tavares put the visitors ahead with an alley-oop slam, 12-13. After Hifi nailed one from deep, Abalde scored inside and Campazzo drained a corner triple for a 15-18 cushion. Then, Hezonja and Campazzo netted from deep before the latter nailed a layup to make it 17-26 after 10 minutes.
A Collin Malcolm bucket was followed by another triple from Hezonja for Real Madrid’s first double-digit lead, 19-29. Ward drilled one from downtown before setting up Malcolm for a three-point play that cut the deficit to 25-29. But Hezonja’s long two was followed by Campazzo’s third triple of the night to restore a 25-34 lead. A three-point play from Kevarrius Hayes and a couple of Hifi free throws cut the difference to 30-34. Hezonja nailed another three, but Malcolm scored inside to bring Paris within 36-37. Campazzo responded with a three-point play before back-to-back triples from Sergio Llull restored a 38-46 lead. Triples from Hifi and Lo were followed by an off-balance jumper from the former and a buzzer-beating layup from the latter, who trimmed the deficit to 48-52 at the break.
Lo and Hayes netted inside to tie it, but Abalde hit a corner three to put Real Madrid back in front, 53-55. Four straight layups from Musa allowed the visitors to pull away, 58-65. Paris was held scoreless for 5-and-a-half minutes before Lo converted twice inside to trim the deficit to 62-68. After Leopold Cavaliere netted a triple, a buzzer-beating jumper from Hifi brought Paris within 67-70 heading into the closing quarter.
Lo drilled a triple to take his tally to 26 points and tied it for Paris. Yet, Feliz and Gabriel Deck responded from inside before a triple by Llull and a dunk from Tavares extended Real Madrid’s lead to 73-80. A bucket from Lo was followed by a triple by Hifi. Campazzo replied with a three-point play on the other end to set a 78-83 lead. Then, Hezonja netted 5 unanswered points before 3 free throws from Deck sealed it for the visitors.