Tours Métropole Basket (N1)
Le Mans Sarthe Basket (Betclic Élite)
This live feed is provided by journalists from the La Nouvelle République sports department.
First quarter
20-08. The festival behind the arc continues, this time with a prize-winner from Manceau Williams Narace.
14-3. The first basket of the evening is worth three points! And it's by Trevor Hudgins. But Drouault answers him, just like Turner a few moments later (20-5).
Pre-match
19 h 58. Final warm-up moments before kick-off! Unsurprisingly, the Monconseil hall is packed for this meeting.
19 h 55. Time for the presentation of the players, starting with those from Le Mans.
19 h 54. As a reminder, the Tourangeaux will start the meeting with 14 points ahead on the clock, due to the two divisions gap with their opponent. “It’s a parameter that is interesting this year, believes Cédric Heitz, the Touraine coach. It gives a little more spice to the competition, it doesn't guarantee anything, but it remains a difficulty. »
“Psychologically, starting a match at 0-14 is not easy”judge for his part Vincent Loriot, the sports director of the Manceau club.
19 h 50. This match is special for two players from Tours: Pierre-Étienne Drouault and Ethane Bourgade, both trained at Le Mans. “I am indeed from Le Mans, it is my city, specifies Pierre-Étienne Drouault. Concerning the MSB, I spent six years there, going through the cadets, the hopefuls and a little bit of the pros. I decided to leave at the start of my professional career. »
But nostalgia has no place on the floor this evening. “The motivation is there because we don't have the opportunity to play a team of this level every day, continues the Touraine co-captain. We're going to play our luck to the fullest and we have nothing to lose. We all want to show that we are good players and that we can compete with guys at a higher level. It's going to be very physical and very intense, and it's going to get us into the rhythm. We know that if we are not ready, we will explode…”
19 h 45. Le Mans, for its part, played two rounds of the Coupe de France: it first eliminated – not without difficulty – Rouen (91-94), then Hyères-Toulon (77-84), two clubs playing in Pro B But it is especially in the Elite championship that the Sarthe club shines: currently 7.ehe consecutively beat, in recent weeks, Paris Basket (84-76), which then remained intractable in France and in the Euroleague, then La Rochelle (81-71), before defeating the leader, Cholet (86-92) .
“This reflects the potential of our team, explains Vincent Loriot, the Le Mans sports director. With coach Guillaume Vizade, the transplant took well but we had no doubt about it. We really tried to build a formation where the strengths are balanced and the responsibilities relatively diluted. We have a group that lives well and has a relatively developed sense of sharing. »
With, in particular, two elements which particularly stand out in this very homogeneous squad: the American leader Trevor Hudgins, main offensive asset (16.8 pt, 5e top scorer in the championship) and recent winner of the three-point contest during the LNB All Star Game; and the young Noah Penda (19 years old), U20 European champion last summer and omnipresent in Le Mans colors (10.1 pt, 5.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 14.3 rating in 27' ).
19 h 40. Note that the TMB called on a medical joker to compensate for the absence of Fabien Paschal, injured in the foot (injury) against Rennes during the last match of 2024. This is Moussa Mayaki (2 m, 25 years old), interior who played at Orchies last season in N1 (8.9 pt and 5.3 rebounds on average), and who is currently warming up. He wears number 2.
19 h 35. The adventure is already beautiful. Because to afford this prestigious poster, the Tours MB (also 4e of its N1 group) passed three rounds of the competition, with memorable performances. He hit hard from the start, eliminating Évreux, a Pro B club (83-71), from the 64es of final. The success against Le Havre (64-81) in the following round was a real click, opening a series of six successive victories in the championship…
Finally, the Tourangeaux qualified for these 8es at the end of a crazy match against Levallois, thanks to a winning shot from American leader Collin Turner at the very last second (78-80).
Is a new feat possible against Le Mans? “This match will be a great celebration, rejoices Cédric Heitz, the Touraine coach. We are the last N1 team to participate in this competition and we welcome a team which, currently, is able to play in the Pro A play-offs. We touch the cream of what is best in France at the level basketball. We hope that we will live up to the event. You will have to play fair and intense to be able to hope to be in the rhythm. »
19 h 30. Good evening and welcome to this live! This evening, a gala match will be hosted at the Monconseil hall. An opposition which also recalls the glorious hours of Touraine basketball. Because Tours Métropole Basket, resident of Nationale 1, will challenge Le Mans, which plays at the highest French level. Kick-off of the meeting at 8 p.m.!
