In an all-French showdown, JDA Dijon defeated ASVEL Lyon Villeurbanne for the second time in its Eurocup debut campaign, and with this 75-58 victory a Eurocup newcomer sealed its place in the Last 32. Dijon improved to 5-2, and with a season sweep of ASVEL, combined with wins over Telenet Ostend and FoxTown Cantu, cannot finish worse than fourth in Group B. Meanwhile, ASVEL dropped to 3-4 record. The hosts made a charge in the second quarter, using four consecutive triples to build a double-digit halftime lead. ASVEL rallied in the third, closing within 50-46, but never closer as Dijon went on a 22-7 spurt that bridged the third and fourth quarters, paving the way to victory. Steven Gray hit 4 of 7 from downtown on his way to game-high 20 points. Antoine Mendy had 13 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals, while Zach Moss fought for 12 points and 6 boards in victory. Ahmad Nivins had 14 points and 7 rebounds for ASVEL, while Taurean Green and Amara Sy contributed with 8 points apiece.
Six points from Sy and triples from each Green and David Andersen got ASVEL to 8-14 lead, and Nivins joined in to extend it to 11-18. Aldo Curti and Kris Joseph were the early scorers for the hosts, and a layup from Fredinand Prenom helped cut the deficit to 17-20 after 10 minutes. After Joseph and Travis Bader traded triples in the second quarter for 22-27, a pair of three-pointers from Erving Walker gave Dijon 30-29 advantage. Mendy and Gray continued the hosts' onslaught from downtown, before each had a put-back in the last 2 minutes of the quarter, too. It helped Dijon finish the quarter with a 15-2 run for 42-31 halftime lead.
Edwin Jackson and Green cut it to 44-37 at the start of the third, but Dijon used trips to the foul line from Gray and Walker to stay in front, 50-39. Nivins strung together 6 points during a 0-7 run, getting ASVEL within 4 points, but Gray sank a three-pointer, and Curti assisted Moss for a bucket inside as the hosts went into the final quarter up 56-46. In the fourth, Moss and Mendy combined to score 8 points, including a put-back each, for 66-51, before three-pointers from Gray and Andre Harris made it 72-53 with two and a half minutes left to play, sealing the deal.
"We are now qualified and it was very important to win today. I'm satisfied because my players played quite well during three quarters. We had a strong defense and got many rebounds. However I'm quite worried because Kris Joseph is slightly injured."
"We missed too many shots tonight and we had to play against a very strong defense. Dijon is already qualified, which is a very good thing for them. We had much too many turnovers (17) again because of their strong defense."