French League, Game 22: March 15-16, 2008
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Le Mans Sarthe Basket is the sole leader in the French League after it was the only team among the top four in the standings to win over the weekend. Le Mans gave one of those other team's its loss and won an all-Euroleague showdown when it outlasted fourth-place Roanne 96-93 in an overtime thriller at home. Le Mans had six scorers reach double figures, led by Phil Ricci with 21 points. Meanwhile, Asvel Basket fell out of its first-place tie with Le Mans by losing 97-89 on the road against sixth-place Le Havre, for whom T.J. Thompson scored 34 points. Elsewhere, third-place Nancy had it just as tough, losing 81-77 against ninth-place Hyeres-Toulon. Fifth-place Vichy bucked the trend by winning 69-74 on the road at eighth-place Strasbourg. Orleans moved up to take hold of 10th place by defeating its seventh-place visitors, Cholet, by 86-79. Pau-Orthez handled visiting Paris with a 78-86 victory. Dijon topped visiting Chalon 81-73 to avoid next-to-last place, as did Gravelines, with a 79-72 home win over last-place Clermont.
Le Mans had its hands full clear into overtime against Roanne, when late free throws by Nicolas Batum finally won it for the hosts. Until then, Roanne had been the protagonist, leading 20-26 after one quarter, and again by 65-68 heading into the last. Brion Rush of Roanne sent the game to overtime, but once there, Le Mans had enough answers to please its fans and take over first place. Nebojsa Bogavac added 20 points for the winners, Sam Clancy 15, Batum 13, Raviv Limonad and Alain Koffi 12 each. Koffi's 10 rebounds equalled the difference between the teams, 39-29. Euroleague regular season scoring champ Marc Salyers led Roanne with 28 points, while Derrick Byars and Rush had 11 each.
Le Havre scored 32 points in the opening quarter against Asvel and never looked back on the way to its home victory. Thompson hit 13 of 15 free throws among his 34 points, while Wen Mukubu added 23 for the winners. Robert Conley had 23 points and 11 assists for Asvel. Nancy hung tough on the road but could not finish the job against Hyeres-Toulon, which got 23 points from Daniel Horton plus 14 rebounds from Vincent Masingue. Victor Samnick had 19 points, 9 rebounds for Nancy, while Ricardo Greer added 18 points. Vichy got the only road win of the weekend as it stayed a step ahead of Strasbourg all game. Rasheed Wright was high scorer for Vichy with 15 points, while Eddie Shannon had 19 for Strasbourg. Orleans pulled away after an even first half to beat Cholet behind 28 points from Brandon Heath and 23 from Benjamin Dewar. Pau-Orthez defended tis home courg against Paris thanks to 24 points from Antonio Graves. Dijon did the same against Chalon as David Simon led five double-figure scorers with 17 points, as did Gravelines against Clermont with Vincent Grier pouring in 28 points.
LAST GAME GAME 22
March 14-15, 2008 | | Day | Match | Result | | Mar. 14 | EB Pau Orthez vs. Paris | 78-66 | | Mar. 14 | Dijon vs. Chalon/Saone | 81-73 | | Mar. 15 | Hyeres-Toulon vs. Nancy | 81-77 | | Mar. 15 | Gravelines vs. Clermont | 79-72 | | Mar. 15 | Le Mans vs. Roanne | 96-93 | | Mar. 15 | Le Havre vs. Asvel Basket | 97-89 | | Mar. 15 | Orléans vs. Cholet | 86-79 | | Mar. 15 | Strasbourg vs. Vichy | 69-74 |
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NEXT GAME GAME 23
March 28-29, 2008 | | Day | Match | | Mar. 25 | Clermont vs. Pau Orthez | | Mar. 28 | Asvel Basket vs. Le Mans | | Mar. 28 | Paris vs. BCM Gravelines | | Mar. 29 | Nancy vs. Orléans | | Mar. 29 | Vichy vs. Le Havre | | Mar. 29 | Cholet vs. Roanne | | Mar. 29 | Strasbourg vs. Dijon | | Mar. 29 | Chalon/Saone vs. Hyeres |
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| STANDINGS | TG | W | L | P+ | P- | | 1 | Le Mans | 23 | 17 | 6 | 1789 | 1647 | | 2 | Asvel Basket | 22 | 16 | 6 | 1896 | 1746 | | 3 | Nancy | 22 | 15 | 7 | 1803 | 1652 | | 4 | Roanne | 22 | 14 | 8 | 1836 | 1765 | | 5 | Vichy | 22 | 13 | 9 | 1478 | 1426 | | 6 | Le Havre | 22 | 12 | 10 | 1846 | 1834 | | 7 | Cholet | 22 | 12 | 10 | 1649 | 1646 | | 8 | Strasbourg | 22 | 11 | 11 | 1702 | 1669 | | 9 | Hyeres Toulon | 22 | 11 | 11 | 1742 | 1711 | | 10 | Orléans | 22 | 10 | 12 | 1632 | 1665 | | 11 | EB Pau Orthez | 22 | 9 | 13 | 1629 | 1719 | | 12 | Chalon/Saone | 22 | 9 | 13 | 1666 | 1697 | | 13 | Dijon | 22 | 8 | 14 | 1721 | 1818 | | 14 | BCM Gravelines | 22 | 8 | 14 | 1679 | 1782 | | 15 | Paris-Levallois | 22 | 8 | 14 | 1635 | 1679 | | 16 | Clermont | 23 | 4 | 19 | 1544 | 1791 |
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