Mathieu Warnier, Media365, published on Friday January 30, 2026 at 11:05 p.m.
On the occasion of the reception of Panathinaikos, ASVEL conceded a sixth consecutive defeat in the Euroleague (78-79) and remains in the bottom of the ranking.
The European Stations of the Cross of ASVEL continues. In front of their audience at the LDLC Arena, Pierric Poupet’s players were unable to stop their negative spiral with a sixth defeat in a row against Panathinaikos. However, under the leadership of Braian Angola (20 points, 7 assists), the Rhone residents had an interesting start to the match. An 8-0 in the first two minutes set the tone. Not releasing the pressure, they pushed their advantage to eleven units. Except that the Greek team has completely woken up. Tightening the game in defense, the “Pao” relied on Kostas Sloukas (26 points, 9 assists) and Jerian Grant (15 points, 5 rebounds) to inflict a 12-2 on ASVEL and come back to a small point. The defenses then took precedence over the attacks with a single free throw from Thomas Heurtel (8 points, 12 assists) to report in the last two minutes of this first quarter. A two-point advantage that the Rhone residents tried to defend in the following ten minutes.
ASVEL was able to stand up
But, despite Melvin Ajinça (14 points, 6 rebounds) and Mbaye Ndiaye (5 points), the Greeks ended up taking the lead under the leadership of Konstantinos Mitroglou (8 points). A final basket from Nikolaos Rogkavopoulos allowed Panathinaikos to reach the break with a six-unit advantage. From the restart, Richaun Holmes (11 points, 9 rebounds) then Juancho Hernangomez (6 points, 7 rebounds) allowed their team to flirt with the ten-point lead. However, indiscipline played in favor of ASVEL with four free throws made by Braian Angola which allowed the Villeurbanne club to stay in contact. Except that TJ Shorts recalled good memories of French basketball. The former Paris player unlocked his counter with two free throws, his only points of the match with very limited playing time, before seeing Juancho Hernangomez allow the “Pao” to exceed the ten-point lead for the first time. It was once again crossed at the very end of the third quarter but ASVEL was able to get back under it at the last minute to approach the last ten minutes at nine lengths.
Panathinaikos wins without shining
A burst of pride initiated by Thomas Heurtel and Bastien Vautier (14 points) then allowed the public at the LDLC Arena to believe in an end to the black series, the gap having fallen to five lengths with a little over seven minutes still to play. Cedi Osman (4 points) then put Panathinaikos on the right track with a 10-0 which put a blow on the head of the Rhone residents, trailing by twelve points with three minutes on the clock. But, proudly, Zac Seljaas (9 points) found the target from long distance and ASVEL was able to come back to four points with ten seconds still to play. After a failed restart from TJ Shorts, Thomas Heurtel brought the Rhone team back to two units. Except that Kostas Sloukas did not tremble on two free throws to give Panathinaikos some breathing room. At the buzzer, Braian Angola finds the target in a three-point corner. Which only softens the defeat of ASVEL, by the smallest of margins (78-79). While the Greeks return to Monaco, the Rhone residents remain at the bottom.
