Levallois: 84
Tours : 80
Before being able to return to their home of Monconseil (next Friday), the Tourangeaux made a fifth detour last night away from it. On the floor of the ambitious promoted Levalloisian, the Ligeriens will have displayed a combativeness at all times and maintained the suspense until the end. Playing eye to eye with the Ile-de-France residents, they first took the score (6-10, 5e) but, carried by the hot hand of Stansbury (13 points in this first quarter), Levallois won the initial act (22-19).
Bequignon responds to Stansbury
The second was that of Hugo Bequignon. Coming off the bench, from near and far, he alone had to score 10 of his team’s 20 points and allow the visitors to take back the keys to the truck from his prize-winner (32-35, 15e). After having increased their lead on Sylla’s dunk (34-39, 18e), the Tourangeaux could not prevent the Parisian suburbs from coming back at the end thanks to the successes of Stansbury and Balayera. Although having won this quarter (18-20), the visitors returned to the locker room with an outlay reduced to its simplest expression (40-39).
A long undecided duel
Upon returning to the floor, the intensity of the debates did not weaken. The back and forth on the scoreboard started again. The TMB struck first. After André had consecutively found the circle twice in a row, he was in front (44-49, 23e). Following Turner’s throws, he increased his lead (47-54, 25e). Undefeated in his room and determined to stay there, Levallois quickly recovered (56-56, 27e). Taking advantage of some bad choices by TMB, the locals finished stronger. When the last round was called, the suspense had not left the room (63-58, 30e). Thanks to Balayera and Tchuente, Levallois initially regained his distance (71-64, 35e).
A nice return… in vain
Despite great efforts on their part, the Tourangeaux were pushed back 9 lengths following the missile from Balayera (81-72, 38e). Twenty seconds later, two shots from Turner, immediately followed by two winners from Minfir then Bequignon (best scorer of the match) and the TMB was on the heels of the Métropolitains (81-80, 39e). Unfortunately for the Tourangeaux, they were unable to turn the table over in the final moments.
The quarters: 22-19, 18-20, 23-19.
Referees: MM. Messad and Poulaillon.
Levallois: Thalien (4), Stansbury (19), Nelson (16), Balayera (16), Clerence (12), Tchuente (6), Garbin (9), Amarh (2).
Tours : Sylla (8), Drouault (5), André (17), Minfir (6), Turner (9), Bourgade (3), Léon (1), Bequignon (25), Paschal (6).
hot
Cédric Heitz (TMB coach): “It’s a big disappointment once again. We are a bit in the state of mind of the match against Rennes where we have the impression that we can really win this match. However, crucial losses of ball made us disillusioned. Then, perhaps we could have shared responsibilities more. What is positive is this good sequence where we come back into the match at the end thanks to good defenses and talented attacks. We were able to hope to win this match. Once again we are disappointed but there are still positive points. We will continue to work. We have a Coup de France match coming up, against Le Havre. We will try to share playing time. Today, our position in the standings is not rewarding but there is quality in this group. We have to continue to show this intensity and our desire to win matches! »
