By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Nando De Colo scored 13 points in the first half and surpassed Vassilis Spanoulis in the All-Time top scorers’ list of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, while ASVEL played for their pride.
And that proved enough. LDLC ASVEL got an easy 98-69 win over Valencia, which practically is out of the play-ins after this result having a 14-19 record.
ASVEL with 8-25 is second to last, but at least got a reason to celebrate with De Colo finishing the game with 19 points against his former team and DeShaun Thomas (photo) adding 13 setting the tone early.
De Colo, a former champion with CSKA Moscow, is now the second leading scorer in the EuroLeague All-Time list, behind only Mike James.
“I am always happy to return to Valencia, but unfortunately for them, this was not an easy night”, said De Colo.
As for his new record, De Colo smiled: “It’s a little strange to become second for the second time, but it’s great”.
The French scorer is referring to the fact that he was in the past the second All-Time scorer behind Vassilis Spanoulis, Mike James surpassed both of them, and after being third for some months, De Colo ended up back in the second spot of the All-Time list.
Joffrey Lauvergne was the top scorer of the game with 21 points, many of them in the second half, Paris Lee scored also 13 and Edwin Jackson had 12.
“It was a good game, I am really happy about the win”, said Lauverge who has also played for Valencia in the past adding: “I hope to see them in the EuroLeague again next season. We tried hard the whole season, we fought as much as possible”.
Valencia was missing Kevin Pangos, a late announced absence, but this is far from being a good enough excuse. Chris Jones scored 18 points for the losing side.
Α blow out in 26 minutes
Despite missing two key members in former NBA players Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Mike Scott while losing Mbaye Ndiaye due to injury, ASVEL started the game with an impressive 27-19 first quarter.
The hosts answered back with a 7-2 run (29-26) and trimmed the lead to three, but ASVEL by shooting 65% in two-pointers closed the first half with a 14-point advantage (52-38).
ASVEL pushed their lead to 20 (58-38) after a dunk by Youssoupha Fall, and their run extended to 17-0 (69-38) ending the game prematurely.
“We played terribly, we were anxious at the start of the second half, it’s a tough day for us today”, Valencia coach Alex Mumbru said.
With Valencia trailing by 31 and the local fans booing their own team, there was no coming back. ASVEL led even by 39 (79-40) after 26 minutes of action and the game was over.
As ASVEL coach Pierric Poupet said: “It was not easy, but I guess we wanted to win it more than Valencia. It’s late for the EuroLeague but maybe we can build on that and play better in the French league. In many other games, we were competitive for 35-36 minutes and we collapsed in the end”.
Photo credit: EuroLeague