Our Parisians are turning off Gravelines

Dominant at home throughout the game, the Paris Basketball U21 team crushed Gravelines-Dunkerque this Wednesday in a rescheduled 21st round of the championship (81-43).

Our young Parisians still hadn’t gotten over their bitter defeat in Strasbourg last weekend (80-92). Eager to bounce back, Paris Basketball started this match against Gravelines with a bang. The game, initially focused on defense, struggled to get going. Both teams sized each other up before our U21s launched the first attack. Their defensive solidity was so evident that it took more than five minutes for BCM to finally score a single point. As in the first half, Paris dominated without managing to pull away on the scoreboard. Having closed the gap to just one possession at the end of the first quarter (15-13), the visitors nevertheless lost ground during the second quarter, due in part to a huge run by Julien Mahé’s team (32-23).

While the hope of a close game persisted after halftime, our Espoirs (U21) team quickly put an end to the contest. The third quarter was a dead end for Gravelines! Led by a double-double from Malik Rouamba (12 points and 10 rebounds), Paris Basketball routed their opponent. They reduced them to less than 13 points and then scored 25 (57-35). The 10th-ranked Espoir ÉLITE team tried their best to get back into the game at the start of the fourth quarter… to no avail! Having scored over 10 points in five consecutive games, Paris cruised confidently to a valuable victory just a few weeks before the Trophée du Futur (Future Trophy).

The opposition is likely to be much tougher this Saturday in Cholet. Facing the reigning champions, our young Parisians have everything to gain. Especially since the current leader of the Espoirs ÉLITE league has very recently suffered two of its three defeats this season.