Nanterre 92 continued possibly the best week-long stretch in the club’s history by outlasting fellow French side Elan Chalon for the FIBA Europe Cup title just three days after winning the French Cup.
The Pascal Donnadieu-coached side held out to take an 82-79 victory in the second leg of the title-decider after being held to a 58-58 draw in the first game on the road in Chalon-sur-Saone.
And it was immediately obvious that the second meeting would be more of a high-scoring affair as Nanterre, spurred on by the 3,000-strong sold-out home crowd, made seven of their first eight three-pointers to be leading by as much as 14 points.
However, much like on the first leg, when they had gone down by 15 points, Elan Chalon came storming back in the second half, taking the lead on a Moustapha Fall jump-shot to begin fourth-quarter scoring. But Nanterre immediately took the lead back and retained it for the remainder of the game.
Axel Bouteille had the opportunity to force overtime on the last play of the night, but his downtown shot was found wanting, sending the partisan Nanterre crowd into raptures.
