a qualification and a liberating success for the Tours MB

Le Havre (N1): 64
Tours MB (N1) : 81

Traveling to Le Havre to compete in his 32^e final of the Coupe de France this Tuesday, October 15, Tours MB – still bottom of its group (1 victory and 4 defeats in five matches) – hoped to regain a little confidence before resuming the championship games, this Friday evening with the extremely important reception of the Federal Center, at Monconseil finally… Well with this kind of service, there is reason to be reassured!

The TMB immediately in the right tone

Far from making this competition a big priority, the Tourangeaux attacked the meeting without pressure and quickly took control by inflicting a 0-6 against the co-leader of group B of N1 (3^e). Well leggy and precise in their shots, Cédric Heitz’s men clearly dominated a partially overhauled STB team in a fairly lively first quarter (18-22, 10^e).

But after these first ten minutes in their advantage, things were unfortunately going to get complicated for the TMB players… First on each rebound and victorious in practically all duels, the Le Havre team raised their voice and already reset the counters to zero (24 -24, 14^e) ! Then followed a great battle, still undecided, between the two Nationale 1 teams, until the half-time buzzer (36-34, 20^e).

30 points scored in the 3^e quart-temps

Manhandled before the break, the Knights returned to the floor with better intentions… Collin Turner delighted with three points (4/4) and allowed his team to regain control (41-50, 25^e). More aggressive and determined, the Tourangeaux passed 30 points in this quarter and found themselves in an ideal position heading into the last round (51-64, 30^e).

Le Havre was no longer there… Leaving Alexis Dargenton’s partners – back from injury – to begin the final round with a scathing 0-10, thus putting an end to the suspense (51-74, 34^e) ! The rest was only going to be a formality for the Tours MB which left Normandy with deserved success.

If the qualification is not really of great importance given Touraine’s ambitions in this competition, the game produced as well as the attitudes are quite encouraging for the rest of the events. To be confirmed on Friday in the championship where, there, the TMB will now have to convert its ambition into success.

Hot

Cédric Heitz (TMB coach): “We had things to prove to ourselves, especially in terms of attitudes… Today, everyone participated in this victory, in a great way, so we are satisfied! Above all, we imposed a significant physical impact, we protected the racket and we caused ball losses, something that Le Havre is not used to doing. From our previous defeats we weren’t really far away so we needed, for our morale, to get back to winning… That’s done! »

The quarters: 18-22, 18-12, 15-30, 13-17.
Referees: MM. Adam and Diquelou.
STB Le Havre: Cayol (5), Nébot (8), Boedi, Mensah (8), Sangaré (2), Ndoye, Awich (19), Bassoumba (11), Sambe (10), Marius (1).
MB Towers: Bourgade (2), Leon (10), Sylla (4), Bequignon (8), Drouault (8), André (14), Dargenton (4), Paschal (7), Minfir (10), Turner (14).