Photo Credit: Lilian Bordon
Led by a stratospheric Michael Stockton and a decisive Giovan Oniangue, Elan Béarnais offered the first success of the season at home against SIG Strasbourg (83-80).
After the victories for Blois, Gravelines and Dijon on Friday night, the Élan Béarnais kicked off its season with the reception of SIG Strasbourg this Saturday. Leading into the break after a difficult start to the match (14-27, 10′), Eric Bartecheky’s men resisted the listless Alsatians to offer their first success of the season at home (83-80).
A first half with two faces
From the beginning of the match, the Lassi Tuovi players were very skilful (6/11 from 3 points) as a stan okoye very effective (14 points and 4 rebounds for a PIR of 19), forcing Eric Bartecheky to quickly stop the game (6-13, 4′). Dominated in all areas of the game, the locals saw their evening opponents stand out in this first quarter (8-21, 6′). After perfectly controlled first ten minutes, SIG Strasbourg logically won (14-27). In the hard part of this first quarter, the Palois were more aggressive in defense and took advantage of Alsatian errors to catch up (22-29, 13′) thanks above all to the activity of the youngsters Enzo Shahrvin (4 points and 7 rebounds). If the foreign direction was there on the Alsatian side in the first minutes, the SIG, more carefree, was very unsuccessful in this second quarter. Following the trio michael stockton (17 points, 6 rebounds, 10 assists and 5 steals for a PIR of 29) – Garret Sim (15 points and 4 assists) – Vitalis Chikkoko (17 points and 3 rebounds for a PIR of 13), Pau took the lead for the first time in the match and was ahead of the break (44-41, 20′).
With character, Pau offers his first success of the season
The Palois returned to the ground with the same intentions. Combative and efficient, Juan Oniangue (18 points and 9 rebounds for a PIR of 19) allowed his team to maintain the lead in this match (54-49, 25′). Dominated in intensity and conceding 14 offensive rebounds in total, the Strasbourg players had to rely on the impact of matt mitchell (17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists) to stay in touch. At the end of a very defensive third quarter, Élan Béarnais kept control (64-57, 30′). under the impulse of marcus keene (18 points), Lassi Tuovi’s men inflicted a 7-0 tackle to come back to 2 points (64-62, 32′). The SIG found its direction at the best of times to get back ahead (64-68, 33′). But those from Palois did not abdicate and the crossover continued in this last quarter (73-73, 36 ‘). Michael Stockton, author of a double-double, continued his offensive festival and allowed his team to regain the lead once again, before finding Garrett Sim alone in the corner to score an important triple. After a last defensive mistake by SIG that allowed Giovan Oniangue to score a single basket on the fast break, EBPLO secured their first success of the season at home (83-80).
Strasbourg will have to quickly revise their copy because a second away game awaits them on Tuesday in Dijon.
