JL Bourg in the Eurocup final? Maybe, but not this Friday evening. Winners of the first match of their series against Besiktas last Tuesday, at Ekinox, Freddy Fauthoux’s players suffered the law of the Istanbul club (81-72) this Friday, during the second round. And this in a huge atmosphere, in front of 15,000 Besiktas fans. One everywhere, ball in the center. The two teams will meet again on Tuesday, again at Ekinox, for the title. The winner will qualify for the final, against Paris Basketball or London.
Trailing 32-36 at the break and 32-39 at the start of the second half, Marko Simonovic (11 pts, 6 rbs, 3 pds) and his teammates inflicted a scathing 11-0 on the French visitors to take the reins, definitively, after an indecisive first act marked by 12 changes of leader on the scoreboard. They then pushed their lead to 15 (73-58), including 17 points from Jonah Mathews and Matthew Mitchell. Top scorer of the match, Isiaha Mike scored 19 points for JL Bourg, who went 9-0 at the end of the match to get closer (73-67), in vain…