The Monegasques have three victories in advance before playing the last match of the first phase on Tuesday on the floor of Boulogne-Levallois.
Paris and Bourg-en-Bresse joined Villeurbanne in second place in the Basketball Elite on Saturday halfway through the regular season thanks to their victories over Strasbourg (78-67) and Nancy (85-59), but the trio is well behind the holder Monaco. The Monegasques have three victories in advance (15 against 1 defeat) before playing the last match of the first phase on Tuesday on the floor of Boulogne-Levallois, the red lantern. Villeurbanne was rested this weekend, having played its match on day 17 at the end of November.
This evening also marked the end of the race for the Leaders Cup, a tournament in February bringing together the eight best from the first phase in which Nanterre, Nancy, Saint-Quentin and Le Mans will participate in addition to the first four. A pleasant surprise from the first part of the season, Bourg-en-Bresse won its fourth success in a row in Lorraine. The Burgiens already had a fifteen-point lead at the break after a one-sided third quarter (30-13). American guard Bryce Brown (16 points) and Belarusian interior Maksim Salash (15) were the JLB’s two top scorers.
The Nancéiens, also authors of a good run and qualified for the Leaders Cup from February 16 to 18, have never competed. Paris, beaten in Bourg just last week, bounced back by dominating the SIG in a contested meeting at the Palais Omnisports in Bercy. The great French hope Nadir Hifi was the best scorer of the match (20 points), however using a lot of ammunition (2 out of 8 from three points).
The good operation at Le Mans
With Strasbourg, seven other teams could still win the last two tickets for this tournament which traditionally opposes the first eight of the first phase. Saint-Quentin and Le Portel were fighting for one in a direct clash and it was the Aisne team who easily won in front of their supporters (88-67) with 18 points from American leader Tyger Campbell. His understudy, the young Frenchman Lucas Boucaud (23 years old), gave 8 assists (6 points).
For the other contenders, it was not only necessary to win against a direct rival but also to finish with the best overall point average. It was Le Mans, winner of Dijon (76-67), which achieved this, ahead of Strasbourg and Cholet which won in Chalon-sur-Saône (81-79). Limoges, out of the race for the Leaders Cup since the confirmation on Friday of the sporting sanction of the financial policeman (revised however downwards from three to two victories withdrawn), beat Nanterre (79-68). At the bottom of the ranking, Blois (16th) gave itself a little breathing room by beating Boulogne-Levallois (95-84).
