By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Fabien Causeur scored a season-high 25 points on 9-11 shots as Real Madrid beat ASVEL Villeurbanne 87 – 74 on the road and capture its third win in a row in EuroLeague.
This was one of the top-scoring performances in Causeur’s EuroLeague career. The French guard fell three points short of tying his career-high of 28.
“It’s always tough to play here in this gym,” Causeur said. “The crowd is really good. I’m super happy to win in France, my home country. Hopefully, it brings more wins for us in the next weeks. I was very motivated for today’s game. It’s always special to come back to France, and I felt good. When you hit your first two shots, your confidence gets so much better. I am feeling great in Real Madrid and hopefully we’re going to win a lot of games.”
Real stormed into the game with 33 points in the first quarter and led from start to finish to even get a 21-point advantage, 75 – 54 three minutes into the fourth period. ASVEL tried to pull off a big comeback and managed to cut its deficit to eight, 70 – 78 after a 10-0 run.
That was the moment when Rudy Fernandez stepped up to more or less finish the game. The veteran Spaniard hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Real a 72 – 84 lead with 1:12 to play and repel ASVEL for good.
While Elie Okobo had 26 points for ASVEL, most of his contribution came early since he scored 16 in the first period. Real’s defense on the young French start improved significantly after that stretch and Pablo Laso’s players proceeded to keep ASVEL to just 11 points in the third quarter en route to getting a lead beyond 20.
“You’ve got to play 40 minutes against a team like that,” ASVEL coach TJ Parker said. “We didn’t do it tonight. It’s a great team that’s played a long time together. Now, we’ve got another game on Friday.”
Guerschon Yabusele dropped 18 points against his former team to help Real get the victory. Edy Tavares posted 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Dylan Osetkowski had 14 points and Chris Jones added 12 points for ASVEL.
Overcoming the heavy schedule
Real Madrid coach Pablo Laso attributed the errors in his team’s game to a fatigue that was the result of multiple matches in a short timespan.
“I think we did a lot of good things; some bad things,” Laso said. “It was our third game in five days, and I think a lot of our mistakes came from being a little bit tired, physically and mentally. But we controlled pretty well their threats. We shut down Okobo after the first quarter, and I think that was an important part of the victory. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, we got a big lead, and that was the key to get an important victory today here in France.”
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball