JL Bourg did not miss its premiere. The Bressan club dominated Besiktas Istanbul, third in the Turkish Championship, on Tuesday at Ekinox (86-74) and achieved their first success in the Eurocup semi-finals.
In this best-of-three series, the Bressan club has awarded itself a precious wildcard, in the event of a setback on Friday in the bustling Arena Sinan Erdem in the Turkish metropolis, expected to be packed to capacity (16,000 supporters).
The support match to designate the finalist would indeed take place in Bourg, on Wednesday April 3. At home, Axel Julien’s partners won ten matches out of eleven in the event, the only setback, against Ulm (Germany) taking place in a match without stakes, on the last day of the group stage.
“Defensively, we were solid, the important thing is to have been consistent throughout the match. When we play like that for forty minutes, we are a good team,” commented Julien on the microphone of the broadcaster Skweek, after this success acquired thanks to a good defensive performance.
Except in the second part of the third quarter, the Besiktas attack (42% success) was never able to worry the Bressan defense, and its free throw shooters did not help anything (18 on 32). Former Villeurbanne Jonah Mathews and former Parisian Kyle Allman (4 points each) were, in particular, perfectly contained.
The Turkish team never led after the first three minutes, was at distance at the break (44-30) before coming back within range for a while (60-56, 30th). But each time, the energy, intensity and speed of Frédéric Fauthoux’s players made it possible to regain a cushion, up to +16 (82-66, 38th) and to control the last bursts of Angel Delgado ( 15 points, 16 rebounds) and his teammates.
The paws of Zaccharie Risacher
Despite the faults which affected its pivots, Kevin Kokila and Bodian Massa, the JL always found particle accelerators, Isiaha Mike (16 points), Axel Julien (11), or even Jaequan Lewis (14) in the fourth quarter. time. But it was two three-point shots in quick succession from Zaccharie Risacher (8 points, 4 rebounds), a step-back then a catch and shoot, which made it possible to repel the last real threat in the heart of the final period. .
Always valuable in defense, the future first round of the NBA draft had nevertheless missed the start of the match in attack. But his two only successes made it possible to regain a fourteen-point lead (77-63) and to put a blow to the morale of an opponent who had qualified by winning two away matches, the second by coming back from behind by 21 points against Hapoel Tel Aviv in Vilnius (Lithuania).
Bourg, who shot 52% with 21 assists, is only forty minutes away from his first European final, and will be able to try the bench on Friday in Istanbul, equipped with a good safety belt.
