ADA Blois was scared in Alsace this Friday, December 20. After dominating the first period, finishing it with a 20-point lead and an insolent 3-pointer (11/16, 69%), the Loir-et-Chérien team gave way to Gries-Souffel who maintained suspense until the last second. This ball in the hands of Marcus Gomis just before the final buzzer could have sent the two teams into overtime. A little too short, his failure allowed ADA to win (97-100), thus signing its twelfth victory of the season.
“We proved that we had values of solidarity, of teamwork, that we are a real group”
But also the third in a row after a series of four defeats, further demonstrating the good momentum found by the Blésois. Even more so in these circumstances where two players – Maxime Sconard and Thomas Hieu-Courtois – were missing due to their suspension. “We knew it would be difficult, we proved that we had values of solidarity, of teamwork, that we are a real group, even the kids who train with us are capable of bringing, rejoiced David Morabito at the end of the meeting. I said it at the start of the season, we will have victories, we will have defeats, but the city of Blois, the people of Blois will always be able to be proud of this team because it invests 100% all the time . She doesn't give up and we've proven it again (Friday) evening. »
And Romuald Morency was perhaps the best representative of this self-sacrifice against Gries-Souffel. The 29-year-old strong winger stepped up his efforts on both sides of the field. With great skill (5/8, 63% for 18 points in total), he above all showed all his determination on the rebound, taking 8 in total. It is in particular he who recovers the last Blésoise possession at 97-98 with 10 seconds to go. “I just try to bring energy to every game, to bring a big presence on the rebound, explains Romuald Morency. After the address it goes, it comes. There are a lot of guys on the team who are capable of doing it so I try to do it as much as possible but bring other things to the team. That’s really what makes up my game.”
Romuald Morency, an exemplary executive
In the absence of his sidekick Thomas Hieu-Courtois, and as part of this even younger team with the reinforcement of hopefuls Pavel Bronner-Szulc, Victor-Jérémy Yimga and Jean-Ernest Boyomo-Keedi, Romuald Morency had to set an example to the ASA. “It was up to us to show them the right attitude to have, to lead by example and it was up to them to follow afterwards. And I think they really followed it very well, everyone brought something. So bravo to them. »
And both the player and the coach prefer to remember only the positive from this meeting which almost turned out to their disadvantage. Losing skill and above all much less incisive defensively, the Blésois lost their last two quarters. Errors have multiplied, surely due to a lack of freshness with a limited workforce. “We must never go and shoot on the last possession, Siyani must come out but at some point the hood smokes a little, that’s normal, explains the Blois coach. The room is small, warm, the momentum is for them… but today I don't want to be choosy and blame the boys for anything. »
There is now one more meeting at the ADA before the end of the year. It will be this Friday, December 27 at home against Antibes. « Thomas (Hieu-Courtois) will still be absent but we will get Max back (Sconard) so that brings us more creation. We want to continue the little series we started to celebrate peacefully, with a free mind. »
