Alba Berlin remains on the road to success. Four days after winning the cup in their own hall, the Berliners defeated French champions Asvel Villeurbanne 82-80 (43-40) in the Euroleague on Thursday evening.
It was the seventh competitive win in a row and the ninth in the 25th game in the premier class. The best Berlin throwers were Jaleen Smith with 16 and Jonas Mattisseck with 13 points.
As in the cup final, the injured Marcus Eriksson, Louis Olinde and Yovel Zoosman were absent.
It was a very balanced game right from the start. Alba was able to quickly equalize a 2:5 deficit at the beginning. The French had an advantage under the basket with their long centers, but Alba fought back with speed.
No team was able to pull away more than four points in the first half. At the end of the second quarter, Alba made more mistakes and lost the ball, and the Berliners conceded a 7-0 run. But they answered and Tamir Blatt gave the German champions the lead again before the break with a buzzerbeat.
Alba then came out of the dressing room strongly and for the first time was able to pull away by a double figure (54:43). But the joy was short-lived as Villeurbanne countered with a 12-0 run. And yet the Berliners remained stable and showed strong nerves in the last quarter.
With a 14:4 run, the guests were able to pull away to 80:72 with 56 seconds to go. After that, however, they made it unnecessarily exciting again.