Villeurbanne conceded its tenth defeat in the Euroleague by losing on Wednesday in its Astroballe venue against the Israeli club Maccabi Tel-Aviv (94-91) in a match of the 12th day.
At half-time, Asvel, which remains at the bottom of the standings with two victories, far from its objectives of fighting for qualification in “play-in”, nevertheless led 46-45 against an opponent who is fighting, in on the other hand, in the first half of the table and who won for the seventh time (for five defeats).
Despite the 22 points from Nando de Colo, the 19 points scored by Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, and especially the 23 scored by Joffrey Lauvergne who restored the advantage to Villeurbanne (80-79) on a three-point shot, Maccabi managed to maintain a short lead until the end.
The two teams made a lot of approximations during the meeting during which Asvel (58% on shots and 26% at 3 points against 60% and 29% for its opponent), dominated on rebounds (32-43) as well although defensive (21-28) and offensive (11-15) was again in difficulty defensively. Villeurbanne notably had a big slump in the second quarter, with a 14-0 which allowed Maccabi to take the advantage 33-22.
On Friday, Villeurbanne will host the Spanish team Valencia at the OL Vallée Arena then on December 14, the Greek club Panathinaikos in a series of three home matches intended to allow it to finally launch its European season.
