SIG Strasbourg bounced back from a heavy defeat by defeating Pau-Lacq-Orthez 89-84 in Betclic ELITE on Nov. 13, 2026, at the Palais des Sports, led by Maxence Lemoine’s career-high 19 points.
With Jānis Gailītis missing his primary ball-handler, 19-year-old guard Maxence Lemoine entered the starting lineup and played a game-high 36 minutes, recalling that he had already been propelled into the starting five at the Palais des Sports the previous year while playing on loan at Stade Rochelais.
Lemoine opened the scoring with a corner shot, started 5/5 from the field, and added 11 points in the second quarter alone, finishing with 19 points on 5/10 shooting including 4/7 from three-point range, alongside 6 assists and a performance index rating of 16.
Arriving with an eight-player rotation after a good week of work, Strasbourg maintained the lead throughout the contest against the resilient promoted side, displaying a “mentalité de ‘fighters'” according to Lemoine. Tymu Chenery contributed 16 points and 4 rebounds, Jaylen Hands scored 12 points with 6 rebounds and 5 assists, and Sam Alajiki added 12 points and 5 rebounds, alongside contributions from teammates including Justin Mckoy with 16 points, Ben Middlebrooks with 8 points, Neftali Difuidi with 8 points, Justin Briggs with 4 points, Ben Gregg with 4 points, Bruno Cingala-Mata with 2 points, and Thomas Cornely with 2 points.
For Pau-Lacq-Orthez, Bastien Pinault scored 19 points, Fabio Milanese tallied 13 points, Thomas Cornely had 3 points, Michael Flowers scored 3 points, Joshua Mballa added 3 points, Gregor Hrovat scored 2 points, and Jayvon Maughmer chipped in 1 point, while team statistics recorded 53.6% shooting for Pau-Lacq-Orthez and 49.2% for Strasbourg, with 11/26 three-pointers for the hosts against 11/28 for the visitors, 13/21 free throws to 18/22, 25 rebounds to 33, and 5 offensive rebounds to 10.
Despite his record scoring performance in the elite division, Lemoine remained measured during the post-match press conference.
“Je ne suis pas encore très satisfait de moi, je manque encore de constance dans ce que je fais” explained Maxence Lemoine.
Reflecting on his recent outings, Lemoine added: “J’ai fait un bon début de saison mais ça faisait 3 ou 4 matchs que je n’était pas dedans. C’est la vie d’un sportif, il faut savoir remonter la pente après. Ça m’a fait du bien, je me suis dit qu’il fallait que je sois agressif. Abdou n’était pas là donc j’ai démarré.”
Contrasting with his domestic league play, Lemoine said that in the Basketball Champions League “ça va”, pointing to his performance of 21 points and 5 assists against Galatasaray. The victory put Strasbourg back on track following their previous setback, matching the experience shown when Lemoine previously played at the Palais des Sports on loan.
