Basketball. NM1. La Rochelle: Rupella continues against the Angevin leader

Titanic! Stade Rochelais won a second consecutive victory at home against Étoile Angers Basket, 86-85 after extra time, after a breathtaking encounter.

The Maritimes offered themselves the leaders of the NM1 championship who had, for the moment, lost no head-to-head after 8 days and moved up to 9^th place.

Good start

La Rochelle started strong and relegated the Angevin leader to -9 points at the end of this first quarter. If the La Rochelais struggled especially on the offensive rebound and on fouls, they had difficulty adapting to the attacks of the EAG.

However, the Yellow and Black rely on clinical possessions under the basket. By penetrating the racket, the rochelais cause faults and and ones. For its part, Angers has more waste and less address. And for the moment the all-terrain press of coach Sylvain Delorme does not change anything, La Rochelle imposes its law.

At the start of the second quarter, the Maritimes kept their advantage, however, the EAG caught up. The all-terrain press is starting to bear fruit and allows the Angers coach's men to stay in touch.

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40-34 in the 19th. The inaccuracies of the locals handicap the La Rochelle players who cannot kill the match. Plus +9 at the end of the first 10 minutes, François Sence's men go to the locker room with a three-point lead. 42-39.

When unity is strength

Like the first period, the 10 players go blow for blow in a hard, bitter and very high intensity match. Malonga puts the two 2 teams tied from the first possession from Angevin, 42-42.

There followed a mano to mano between the two formations which turns to the advantage of the teammates of Cheikh Gassama, in double double (21 pts – 10 rebounds,) which goes back to +9. 62-53 at the end of this 3rd quarter.

On both sides, the defenses are in place and a real battle is underway. On the rebound, ditto, it's a trench fight on both sides. As money-time approaches, La Rochelle still leads on the scoreboard, 71-63 with only 5 minutes left.

But the address of the EAB is back and once again picks up the score. 72-71 at the 38th. In addition, Arnaud Thinon (12 pts) comes out on his 5th personal fault. In the collective penalty with also 5 team fouls, the La Rochelle are back to the wall if they want to win this match.

So badly embarked with 4 points behind in the last minute, it was Norville Carey (18 pts) who came out of his box to snatch the extension in the dying seconds. 75 everywhere at the end of regulation time.

Breathtaking

5 more minutes for both teams. Malonga showers Gaston Neveur with a three-pointer, then it's Gauthier's turn to do the same. But that's not counting the 3-point address of La Rochelle leader Antoine Dudit (6 pts) to stay alive. 78-80.

Clearly, you don't have to be cardiac. It's a huge game that takes place between La Rochelle and Angers in a room heated like never before. A blow to you, a blow to me all this with never more than a point difference.

In the end, it was La Rochelle who won thanks to Gaëtan Clerc's free throw (16 pts), but also Antoine Dudit's shot on the outside. Victory of La Rochelle 86-85.

Stade Rochelais Basket offers the leader of NM1 and at the same time inflicts the first defeat of Angers of the season. Incredibly selfless and endowed with unfailing collective strength, La Rochelle has held its benchmark victory this season.

Reactions

François Sence – Stade Rochelais

We played a team from Angers who carried out an all-terrain press throughout the game with a lot of commitments. They tried to cause a maximum of lost balls, moreover we lost 21 of them. But we had a very good first half, then we suffered for 5, 6 minutes and that's when they came back. In the 4th, they come back on free throws, it's a shame. I think we experienced playing against the undefeated leader, but we went looking for it with the trips. Despite the extension, we managed to make stops and Gaëtan freed us on his throws. Tonight the coin fell on the right side. I'm proud of the guys and the public. It's a victory that does good and also validates success on the floor of Vitré. You really have to emphasize the collective strength of the boys and their selflessness.

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