Euroleague Qualifier: Cantu will join Group A

Euroleague QualifierAfter three nights of games in the Paladesio Arena in Desio, Italy, the Euroleague Qualifier ended in the host squad, Mapooro Cantu, putting a beating on their French opponents, Le Mans Sarthe Basket, 80-66. The results send Cantu to Group A of the Euroleague and Le Mans to the EuroCup.

Cantu – Le Mans 80-66
Cantu jumped out to an early lead building a double-digit margin in the first quarter, 23-12. Cantu used an 11-0 run in the second quarter to extend their lead at halftime to 44-28.

The hosts took the lead to 18, then allowed Le Mans to run off eight straight points and cut the gap to 10. The Cantu boys dropped two three-pointers to extend back to 16. That margin blew up to 21 after Cantu finished an 11-0 streak to close out the quarter, 65-44.

Euroleague QualifierThat scoring run went to 15 by the time Le Mans hit the bottom of the net again. Charles Kahudi gave the vistors something to cheer about with a rare four-point play when he got fouled after releasing and nailing a three-pointer. The Le Mans squad fought to the end, pulling with 14, but they couldn’t get any closer.

They key difference in this one was Le Mans shooting 8.3% from behind the arc (1 for 8), while Cantu 40% (8 for 20). They also had a rough time at the charity stripe, shooting 17 for 29 (58.6%).

Maarten Leunen paced Cantu’s scorers with 15 points, Pietro Aradoir added 12, Marco Cusin dropped in 11 and Manuchar Markoshvili added 10. Joao Paulo Batista lead Le Mans with 15 points, while Cuthbert Victor tallied 11 shooting 4 for 5 from the field and 3 for 4 from the line.

Photos courtesy Euroleague

Euroleague Qualifier

3 Comments

  1. Jayman on September 29, 2012 at 11:23

    Last year Charleroi qualified in Belgium, this year Cantu qualifies in Italy which tells us what?!

    • Duck on September 29, 2012 at 18:16

      Home court advantage is a bitch!

  2. Frank the tank on September 29, 2012 at 08:02

    Le mans made their full effort day before against kazan

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