By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
ATHENS — JDA Dijon held back a Basket Zaragoza comeback from down 14 to claim the third place in the 2020 Basketball Champions League Final 8 with a 70 – 65 win.
David Holston scored a game-high 20 points, including four points in the last minute. He first made the layup for the 67 – 63 and when Dylan Ennis answered, he dropped 2-2 from the line that kept his team at a two-possesion distance.
Nicolas Brussino missed in his 3-point attempt and Chase Simon sealed the win of his team with 1-2 from the line.
Holston, who previously drained a key 3-pointer for during Zaragoza’s push, also had six assists and five rebounds. Hans Vanwijn posted 11 points and nine rebounds while Simon added 11 points plus six boards.
Jason Thompson posted 16 points and eight rebounds, Ennis scored 15 (on 3-14 shots) and Brussino contributed 14 points and seven rebounds for Zaragoza that tried to pull off quite the turnaround and recover from a blowout loss to AEK Athens in the semifinal.
Zaragoza was down 59 – 45 early in the fourth period until managing to approach 60 – 57 thanks to consecutive defenses that were tranlated to baskets. Dijon replied with a 5-0 run but Zaragoza was peristent and cut the deficit to 65 – 63 with 1:13 remaining and then 67 – 65, 36 seconds before the end. It was the closest they got.
Photo: Basketball Champions League