Asvel found their way to victory after their stoppage last weekend, victorious without trembling over Portel (86-68) on Sunday at home during the 29th day of Elite basketball, at the end which Monaco is officially guaranteed to finish first in the regular season.
The Villeurbannais (16 wins), beaten the previous day at Gravelines (74-68) after ten weeks of unbeaten in the league, now have two successes ahead of the first unqualified, Paris.
They also keep in touch with fourth place, synonymous with home advantage in the quarter-finals, occupied by a trio made up of Cholet, Bourg-en-Bresse and Dijon who have a victory in advance.
Still threatened by Le Portel in the middle of the third quarter (53-50 with four minutes to play on the clock), the Asvel players ended this period with a bang, thanks in particular to Jonah Mathews (15 pts in total ) to widen a definitive gap (68-52 at the end of the 3rd quarter).
Nando De Colo cracked him with 20 points and 9 assists.
Monaco also easily placed in front of their home crowd the red lantern, Fos-sur-Mer (98-83), to mathematically secure what had been in no doubt for several weeks: first place, synonymous with home advantage until to the final included.
The ASM, thanks to its success and the defeat, the day before, of its runner-up Boulogne-Levallois (84-83 in Limoges) has indeed six victories ahead of the Mets with only five games to play.
Facing the Provençals still neck and neck at the start of the third quarter, Alpha Diallo feasted, scoring 30 points and taking 8 rebounds for a final evaluation of 35.
