NM1. Rueil – Cep Lorient: 78-80
After an intense showdown and a bonus extension, Cep Lorient won in the Hauts-de-Seine and can still consider qualifying for the Top 5.
After two serious “disappointments”, Lorient therefore played a capital game in the room of a team from Rueil which, on the contrary, regained confidence (three consecutive successes). The best local scorer, Ricard suddenly found openings from the start, just to escape until 16-10 (6 ‘).
Timorous until then, the people of Lorient did not allow doubt to settle and then favored the interior sector. Losser then Beye in fact captured precious rebounds followed by easy baskets or second chances for captain Djambo for example. In a few moments, the Cep reversed the trend (21-33, 15 ‘) in front of a draft Ile-de-France rival under pressure. Morency, however, found open positions to bring Rueil closer to mid-term (37-42) and revive the suspense.
A bitter fight in the second half
The fight became tougher on returning from the locker room with reciprocal faults and few baskets scored, especially by Lorient who also lost too many balls. Legat and Ricard on the outskirts therefore brought Rueil to parity at half an hour (54-54). Another parity ten minutes later (70-70) therefore caused an extension or each error was expensive. The two shots missed by Sy and the basket against Morency gave reason to fear the worst for Lorient at 77-76 (44′). An award-winning shot from Suhard 15” from the siren, however, offered victory to Lorient, who are back in the race for the final phase.
Datasheet
Quarters: 18-18, 19-24, 17-12, 16-16, 8-10 in overtime
Referees: Ms. Ouardad and Mr. Briquet, 200 spectators.
RUEIL: Racine (cap.) 7, Legat 14, Braga 2, Morency 18, Ricard 18, then Sumbry 4, Kherzane 3, Gneze 6, Lebrun 6. Coach: D. Mettay.
LORIENT CEP: Sy 15, Suhard 18, Mondésir 5, Losser 9, Hanck 3, then Doumbia 1, Adala Moto 6, Djambo (cap.) 13, Beye 10, Robert. Entrant: P. Maucourant.
