U18 LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne took its first step to its first Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament title by defeating U18 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade 79-81 in Group B of the ANGT Finals. In a re-match of this past February’s ANGT Belgrade first-place game, which ASVEL won 73-80, the game went back and forth throughout and Romain Parmentelot decided it with a big three-pointer with 43 seconds left. Kymany Houinsou collected 14 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 steals and 9 fouls drawn for an index rating of 32 to lead ASVEL, Killian Malwaya picked up 14 points and 9 rebounds, Zaccharie Risacher and Francois Wibaut both scored 13 points and Parmentelot finished with 11 points. The 2014 ANGT champion Zvezda was led by Ognjen Matovic with 18 points and 16 rebounds with Lazar Djokovic scoring 13 points and Luka Vudragovic adding 12 points in the loss.
Late Parmentelot triple carries ASVEL to win over Zvezda
Marko Sarenac opened the game with a three-pointer and the host side led 5-0. ASVEL started rolling with a 3-12 run as Malwaya and Risarcher both hit triples and Houinsou converted a three-point play to lead 8-12. Matovic knocked down two three-pointers at the other end and helped Zvezda surge ahead 18-13. Risacher added two more triples and ASVEL was up 21-24 with the game knotted 24-24 after 10 minutes.
Noam Yaacov drained two triples to start the second quarter and the cushion was 24-30. Malwaya added a three-point play and the lead grew to 26-34. Zvezda used the long ball to get back close with Djokovic and Matovic both hitting triples and Matovic scored again for a 37-36 lead. The game remained close the rest of the first half and it was tied 43-43 at the break.
Sarenac’s three-pointer had Zvezda ahead 48-45 early in the second half. Wibaut started coming up big with two three-pointers and a block which led to a Houinsou breakaway dunk and a 51-58 lead. Zvezda’s defense held strong the rest of the quarter and it was 58-59 after 30 minutes.
The fourth quarter started with Djokovic banking in a three-pointer 1and Vladimir Pavlovic added three free throws before another Djokovic triple and the lead was 69-61. Another Wibaut triple trimmed the gap to 71-67 only to have Pavlovic throw down a big dunk to put Zvezda ahead 75-67 with under 5 minutes to play. ASVEL did not give up and came up with some big plays - Houinsou grabbing his own missed free throw and dunking it, Wibaut stealing the ball for his own dunk and then Parmentelot drained a triple with 43 seconds to go to make it 77-79. After Djokovic evened the game, Houinsou only split two free throws for a one-point lead. With the game in his hands, Pavlovic missed a layup and Djokovic could not get the tip-in with Risacher grabbing the rebound and hitting one free throw with 1.9 seconds to play.