May 24, 2012
French Semaine des As, Semifinals: February 10, 2007
Sandro Nicevic - Le Mans Le Mans Sarthe Basket remained on pace to defend its Semaine Des As title, but it will have to go through French-League co-leader Roanne after both teams recorded respective semifinals wins on Saturday at the Palais des Sports in Nancy. Le Mans managed to overcome a strong atmosphere to best the competition's hosts, Sluc Nancy, 78-70 in the early game, while Roanne overran Adecco Asvel Lyon-Villeurbanne 85-62 in the nightcap. Sandro Nicevic paced the French champions with 26 points on 13-of-17 two-pointers. Kenny Gregory added 17 and Nebojsa Bogavac 12 for Le Mans. Dan McClintock and Maxime Zianveni each had 14 points for Nancy, Tariq Kirksay 12 and Cyril Julian 11. Dewarick Spencer netted 24 to lead Roanne, Marc Salyers added 19, Aaron Harper 17 and Pape Badiane had 10 for the victors. LaVell Blanchard led Asvel with 16, Chevy Troutman had 11 and Rowan Barrett 10 in defeat.

Zianveni and Kirksay helped Nancy to get a 4-8 lead in the early going, as Le Mans struggled to score. Even when Pape Philippe Amagou scored inside to keep Le Mans within 11-15, Julian and Branko Milisavljevic helped Nancy to get a 16-23 lead early in the second quarter. Nicevic got Le Mans going with back-to-back baskets and a three-pointer by Amagou tied the game at 27-27. Nancy could not find the way to the basket now as Nicevic paced a 13-2 run for Le Mans. Nicevic was unstoppable with 12 points in the second quarter alone to give Le Mans a solid 37-29 lead at halftime. Nicevic remained hot after the break and a big triple by Bogavac made it a 13-point game. Nancy only managed to trade baskets for a while, until McClintock and Milisavljevic fueled a 7-0 run that brought their team within 50-44. Yannick Bokolo and Gregory helped Le Mans to keep a 59-51 lead after 30 minutes. A three-pointer by Kirksay brought Nancy as close as 63-61, but Le Mans did not panic. Nicolas Batum fired one in from downtown and Nicevic scored twice to keep Le Mans ahead. Bogavac hit 6-of-6 free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

Asvel got off to a strong start, with Blanchard's three after nearly 7 minutes making it 8-17. However Roanne scored the next 11 points to take a 2-point lead after 10 minutes. Spencer, Salyers and Harper each scored 2 points at the start of the second period to complete a 0-17 run that deflated Asvel's hopes. Aymeric Jeanneau hit one from downtown to bring his team within 25-22, but Roanne had another big run ups its sleeve, and Spencer drilled a triple to just before the halftime buzzer to complete a 16-2 surge that made it 41-24 at the break. Asvel came out for the second half playing aggressive basketball, but Salyers outside shooting allowed Roanne to increase its lead. Asvel was never able to mount a real comeback and Roanne increased its lead to 30 in the fourth quarter as the outcome became clear.


Saturday, February 10, 2007
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