French Pro A Round 3: Dijon stays Perfect

Round 3 of the French Pro A regular season was capped off by a game between Paris-Levallois and ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne Basket. ASVEL came away with an easy 51-70 victory, improving their record to 2-1. Unfortunately for the Paris franchise, they remain in the league’s cellar for now, still unable to find a win in three games. ASVEL led from start to finish as they displayed some mid-season form.

The most important game of the round was what tipped it off over the weekend. JDA Dijon Bourgogne defeated SPO Rouen Basket, 66-70 to be the last remaining team yet to taste the bitter pill of defeat this 2015/16 season. Dijon played solid team basketball to overcome an enthusiastic 20-point game from Rouen’s Ronald Lewis.

Cholet Basket fell to Elan Bearnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez 86-90 and both clubs now share a 2-1 record. It was a thrilling encounter with Pau-Lacq-Orthez coming from behind in the second half to claim the win. Michael Thompson led Pau-Lacq-Orthez with 19 points with a very efficient line. Lance Harris and Steven Smith added 17 points apiece as well.

Limoges CSP Elite handed Le Mans their second loss of the season in a game that had a final score of 65-80. Limoges surged ahead in the first quarter (15-24) and maintained control from there. Nobel Boungou-Colo was dominant with 23 points and six rebounds. Le Mans could not provide any answers to his hot hand for the night.

One of the more exciting games of the round took place between 2nd ranked AS Monaco and JSF Nanterre. Both clubs needed an extra period to settle the outcome. In the end, Monaco prevailed 83-81 in overtime. Monaco’s duo of Jamal Shuler and Amara Sy did most of the damage for the team. Shuler piled in 22 points, making 9-of-11 shots from the free-throw line. Sy added 20 points of his own.  It was the first loss for Nanterre and they are now 2-1. Nanterre should be able to recover from the loss easily enough, being that the season is still young.

Strasbourg secured their second win of the season, downing the Sharks Antibes 71-62 at home. Strasbourg used a big rally in the fourth quarter to snatch the game mostly controlled by Antibes. Strasbourg’s balanced attack proved to be more efficient, overcoming a 20-point effort by Antibes’ Tim Blue. Paul Lacombe paced Strasbourg with 14 points.

Orleans kept Sluc Nancy winless this 2015/16 with an 81-76 win at home. This was the first win for Orleans in only their second game for the season. Antoine Eto and Kris Joseph combined for 40 of the team’s 81 points, dropping 20 apiece. They punished Nancy’s lackluster defense with aggressive play and it paid dividends in spades.