French Pro A: 2016-17 Round 1 Recap

The French Pro A tipped off the 2016-17 regular season over the weekend and Round 1 culminated with some exciting basketball action. Defending champions ASVEL were stunned with an opening round loss to Monaco 74-90 over the weekend. Jamal Shuler exploded for 23 points to lead Monaco to the convincing victory.

JSF Nanterre bagged a road win over ESSM Le Portel, 65-84. Nanterre took care of the ball very well in this game, committing just six turnovers. On the flip side their defense punished Le Portel on many occasions and the 4-to-11 discrepancy in the steals category told the bitter story. Chris Warren paced Nanterre with his 25 points and nine assists.

Le Mans Sarthe Basket and Strasbourg IG had one of the tighter games of the round. Le Mans had a huge third quarter, but Strasbourg came out swinging in the fourth period, but unfortunately their run was not enough to completely erase the lead. At the end of the game, Le Mans would prevail 73-71, holding on for the win. Le Mans had a balanced attack with four players managing to score in double figures.

2015 Champions Limoges CSP Elite had a powerful fourth quarter to seize victory from the clutches of JDA Dijon, 75-70. Limoges’ reserves poured in 30 points in what was a lopsided contest of benches in the middle of the game. Despite their poor shooting from long distance the green and white squad powered through with aggressiveness in attacking the basket. Ousmane Camara was a force down low and did not miss any of his seven shots from two-point range. He ended the night with a game-high 17 points for Limoges.

That was just a snapshot of some of the games that took place in Round 1 action. Here are the scores of the rest of the games in the round:

Chalon vs. Orleans, 87-67

Pau-Lacq-Orthez vs. Cholet, 81-79

Chalons-Reims vs. Antibes, 77-92

Paris-Levallois vs. SLUC Nancy, 75-67

Hyeres-Toulon vs. Gravelines, 75-62