Survived the thriller and escaped the rout from Villeurbanne, Real

In a real high-scoring affair, Real Madrid defeated low-flying Villeurbanne 77-76 in the ‘LDLC’ for Game 17 of the EuroLeague, running to a 16-1 record and maintaining their lead at the top of the standings, leaving the former French champions at 2-15.

Gianmarco Pochettino’s players kept the lead steadily in the first three quarters, but the 14-0 run of the “merinches” at the beginning of the fourth period brought +10, but the French with their own run equalized and in the last minute the match went to point, but Lighty missed Villerban’s final three-pointer.

Leaders of the “merenches” were Poirier with 17 and Tavares with 16, while for the French, Louvavu-Cambaro stood out with 20, Lee with 17 and Loverne with 16 points.

The match

Villerban surprised the “merenches” and initially led 7-2 and later 13-4 and 15-6 with a 6-0 streak and the protagonists of Loverne and Lee during this period. There, Real’s defense became tougher, so the “merenches” found the solutions from the peripherals and reduced 15-10 and 17-15 with Poirier and Kozer’s three-pointer finished at 19-18 in the first period.

Ambalde’s 3-pointer tied the game at the start of the second period and gave the European champions a -1 lead, but there the French went on an 8-0 run with their regionals and leader Lee to take a 33-26 lead. Luvavou-Cambaro’s three-pointer brought +8 and Lee +9, but Yule with his individual actions in the last seconds brought 39-33 at the end of the first half. Villeurbanne had 14/25 in two-pointers and 21 rebounds and Real 11/23 two-pointers and 17 rebounds.

Luverne led 41-33 at the start of the third quarter and held +6 to +8 in that period. Caudi’s three-pointer made it +9 for Villeurbanne, but a 4-0 run by Real reduced it to -5. Moussa starred in a 6-0 Real run for 50-49, but Villeurbanne’s 5-0 run made it 55-49 and 57-51 at the half.

Real settled down to start the fourth quarter, played terrific defense, made steals and led to back-to-back mistakes by the French, going on a 16-0 run in the first five minutes for 57-67 on an 8-0 run by Poirier and 3-pointers by Rudy and Ambalde. . Tavares took the initiative in the French racket and maintained +10 for the players of Chus Mateo, making it 59-70. A 3-0 Villeurbanne run cut it to 62-60 with 3 minutes to go. Louvavos-Cambaro’s three-pointer reduced the score to 65-71 at 2’34’ before the end. The two teams were finding the solutions from the shots and Louvavou-Cambaro reduced to 69-73 at 1’41”.

Scott’s three-pointer reduced the score to 72-73 and made it 7-0 in the home team’s run at 1’05” when the “Merenche”‘s picks from the perimeter were misguided. Campacho hit 1/2 shots and Lee equalized on the next attack at 48”. Tavares made it 74-76 at 30”, Lee won a foul shot, but Louvavu-Cambaro missed a three-pointer and fouled Campacho who with ½ shots made it 74-77 at 5”. Luverne cut to 76-77 at 3” on a quick attack by Villeurbanne, Yule won a foul, but missed both shots, but Lighty’s desperation three-pointer never found the target.

The quarters: 19-18, 39-33, 57-51, 76-77

The statistics