A gala Victor Wembanyama: the French basketball prodigy led Boulogne-Levallois to victory in the first match of the semi-final against Asvel, his former club and three-time defending French champion (75-69 ), Sunday at home.
The Metropolitans 92, who have the home advantage in this best-of-five series, will have the opportunity to double the lead on Tuesday, still at home but a few kilometers from Hauts-de-Seine since the game was relocated to Bercy.
Sunday in Levallois, they dominated from start to finish of the Villeurbannais who suffered from the absence of their master to play Nando De Colo, injured.
And were handicapped by the three faults received at the end of the first period by their pivot Youssoupha Fall.
The Mets 92, with a better oiled collective, led by six lengths at the break (38-32) before taking off between the end of the third quarter and the middle of the final period.
An award-winning shot from Devante Jones five minutes from the siren gave them a twelve-point lead (68-56), erased by Asvel 1 min 30 sec later thanks to a three-pointer from Jonah Matthews (70-61 ), one of the few Villeurbannais to have set the sights at long distance (3/5 for him, 9/26 for Asvel).
The club led by Tony Parker even returned to seven units 51 seconds from the buzzer (70-63), but an award-winning shot from Mets captain Lahou Konaté twenty seconds later dashed their hopes of victory.
Wembanyama (19, 2.21m), who is playing his last games in the championship before leaving for the NBA, set the tone for his game in the first 30 seconds by countering Fall then stealing a rebound from him.
He finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks (but also 5 stray shots) for an evaluation of 24.
And his two winning shots in a row straddling the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth helped the Mets take off.
Source: Challenges en temps réel : accueil by www.challenges.fr.
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