Our Espoirs crack in overtime

Setback for our Espoirs. After going into overtime, Paris Basketball narrowly lost last Saturday in Limoges on the 20th day of the championship (76-78).

Despite their six consecutive wins in Espoirs ÉLITE, our young Parisians did not start the game in the best way. The start was balanced, with each team responding to the other’s actions. However, CSP enjoyed a successful period from the end of the first quarter to the beginning of the second quarter. The home team even built up a lead of more than 10 points. Until then, our Espoirs had been subdued, but they instantly raised their game. Paris Basketball came back, tied the score, and managed to take the lead at the last minute thanks to a clinical 3-point jump shot by Mamadou Sissoko (35-34).

Under pressure, the bottom team in the league turned the game into a huge physical battle, much like our 21st day of Betclic ÉLITE (86-80). Limoges regained the lead, but Paris remained on the prowl (51-53). The fourth quarter ended up swinging decisively in favor of the home team. With a 3-point lead with less than 2 minutes to go, victory was within their grasp. But that was without counting on the resilience of our stars, who came back to within one point in a matter of seconds. The momentum had clearly shifted, and Marko Aleksic forced overtime with a last-second free throw (66-66).

However, as in the last quarter, these five extra minutes were marked by a huge run from CSP. Except that, once again, Paris Basketball did not give up so easily. With 1:17 left on the clock, our Espoirs took a narrow lead over Limoges. The latter responded immediately from the free throw line. This proved to be a fatal margin for our young Parisians, who were unable to force the Greens into a second foul (76-78).

Our Espoirs are determined to make up for this poor performance in two weeks’ time against JL Bourg. At home, Paris could break into the Top 5 of the ELITE Espoirs with a victory. The “match of the highest importance” alert has been activated !