The result lived up to the emotion: for its reunion with its public, in Calais, more than a month after the fire in its Sportica hall, Gravelines-Dunkerque won at the siren against Nanterre ( 80-79) Saturday on the occasion of the 20th day of Elite basketball.
It was Chris Babb who delivered the approximately 2,500 spectators at the Calypso room, including 1,700 subscribers, with a winning shot at the buzzer, before being buried by his partners at BCM, whose enclosure and training center were were devastated by a violent fire on Christmas Day. “To start here with a victory is great. This will give us a big boost for the future,” said leader Thomas Cornély.
Before the meeting, Marie-France Louf, president of the “Irréducibles”, the main group of supporters standing like the whole room for the last two unbreathable minutes, spoke of a moment charged with “a lot of emotion”. “I’ve been frustrated and unhappy for three weeks. But we got back up and started again,” she added to an AFP correspondent. “We have a period of mourning. We had to take it all in. We have now moved on to the second stage. We are already committed to the future,” emphasized Bertrand Ringot, mayor of Gravelines.
The BCM (17th, 5 victories for 13 defeats) thus wins a capital victory in the race for maintenance: it is only one victory behind (and two more matches to play) over Blois, the first non-relegation beaten at Dijon (81-63).
Gravelines is also getting closer to Roanne (6/13), the first relegation defeated at Saint-Quentin (96-90) which was carried by Yannis Morin (27 pts, 8 rebounds and 3 assists for 38 evaluation). At the top of the table, Bourg-en-Bresse (2nd, 15/5) confirmed its excellent form by signing a seventh victory in a row in the championship, in Chalon-sur-Saône (89-62).
