Under the eyes of Mike Pietrus, the former legend of the club, at a time (1999-2003) when most rivals had little illusion going into…
Under the eyes of Mike Pietrus, the former club legend, at a time (1999-2003) when most rivals had little illusions when entering the Palace, this Friday’s Elan has many mitigating circumstances to highlight. No one can blame the green and white for this sixth road trip of the season.
Feared, the absences of Bastien Pinault (flu) and Marvin Clark (hamstrings) were confirmed, depriving Elan of two players who usually have their napkin ring in the major five. If we add the already noted absence of the interior Josh Mballa (heel), and the presence of not even a “half” Bryce Nze who also had the flu and came out from under the duvet to go to the room, Mickaël Hay, without his assistant Jimmy Durand, also ill, had to juggle with a workforce reduced to its simplest expression. Thelwell, Sitraka and Ndiaye, usual 6, 7 and 8th men, were thrown into the entry bath. In short, to get by, able-bodied people from Pau had to be close to perfection.
Blois picks up
What they did for 3 minutes punctuated by a 5 out of 5 shooting (3 to 3 points) with 4 assists finely distilled by Cornely. Picked cold, Blois takes its first time-out (13-2, 4e).
The Palois continue to recite defensively applied and extremely effective basketball on the opposite side (22-9, 6e) with responsibilities assumed by all the players led by a Thelwell already at 10 pts (27-14, 8e).
Blois finds a first salvation by placing the ball inside, where its “vertical” youth must take over a stricken Béarnais playing sector (28-21, 10e).
The debates are balanced at the start of the second quarter where the Palois do not hesitate to run at the slightest opening (32-24, 12e). Run until you start to lose a little lucidity and balloons with it. The Blésois take advantage and get back to 32-29 (13e). The momentum has shifted.
The visiting threat becomes clearer after two throws generously offered to Nottage (34-33, 15e). We promise, we won’t talk more about the level of the referees… Elan is on a dry diet and can do nothing when Boulefaa flies off the baseline to offer the first advantage to the championship runner-up (34-35, 15e).
The resistance is organized
A burst of heat from Thelwell and Wibaut (13 and 12 pts at the break) reignite the Pau flame (40-35, 16e) but Blois has a precious ally, the offensive rebound, already 6 holds. Second or even third chances which help him get back to 42-42 (18e). Elan is on a tightrope but does what is necessary not to veer behind halfway through (47-47, 20e).
A Seydou Ndiaye full of juice allows Elan to lead again (51-50, 22e). Stealthy advantage erased by a 0-8 visitor, always pressing underneath, where it hurts (51-58, 25e).
Elan obviously suffers from the absence of Pinault at 3 pts. One or two bombs would have loosened some tense possessions. So, Thelwell takes care of it (64-67, 29e) to help his team approach the last quarter in “straggler” mode (65-70, 30th). And who knows…
After the exit of Ndiaye for 5 faults which weakened the squad even more, Thelwell lifted the Palais with another arrow then Cornely equalized (74-74, 35e). Would the dream scenario come true?
Unbreathable
In any case, he’s still holding on 2’30 from the end (79-84). A little bit of madness is still missing to turn the tables. He arrives with Thelwell at 6.75m, a good defense followed by a 2+ 1 from Sitraka and 2 throws from Cornely. The Elan went back in front (87-84, 39e) !
There are 1’20 left to play, Cornely loses the ball, Wibaut commits a foul which annoys his coach who hits an ad and collects a technical foul! 3 shots from Vergiat later, 87-87 and 27 seconds to play, ball to Elan who does not exploit it. Extension!
The tension diffuses. You have to wait more than 2 minutes 10 for the first points, they are from Thelwell (90-87, 43e). The palate exults even more before squealing over a triple of Vergiat. 90-90 at the start of the last minute which Sitraka does not see (5 faults). The two camps respond to each other and we are launched into a 2e prolongation (94-94).
Blois got off to a better start (94-98, 48th) but Elan did not want to die (97-98) despite an energy gauge in the bright red. After 49 minutes of a formidable fight (100-103, 49th), the Béarnais finally cracked, legs crimson but heads held high.
