Seville have improved to 2-2 in Eurocup’s Group H following an 84-78 home win over Orleans on Tuesday night.
The Liga Endesa side can qualify for the Top 16 next week if Crvena Zvezda beats Dinamo Sassari tomorrow. If so, Cajasol will advance to the Last 16 with a win against Sassari. Orleans meanwhile drops to 1-3 and occupy last place for now.
Brian Asbury led all scorers for Seville with 27 points and he also pulled down five rebounds, leading three other double-figure scorers. Luka Bogdanovic and Joan Sastre both hit 11 and Roberto Dozier added 10.
The French side were led by 21 points from Caleb Green.
The hosts got off to a flying start; beginning with a 7-0 run that went to an 11-4 lead early as Orleans couldn’t get in to an early rhythm offensively. A Chris Hill triple followed by a jumper from Green brought the visitors to within two though at 11-9.
Seville though hit back and by the first quarter’s end, had a 21-16 lead. Orleans though responded and led 35-33 at half-time thanks to a Jahmar Young-inspired 12-0 burst where he scored 10 of those points as the hosts struggled to find a balanced match-up for the New Mexico State player.
The Spaniards found their feet in the third though and Melenko Tepic restored order as his three put Seville back in front at 38-37. The fans were getting behind their side as Orleans were making basic errors on offence leading to a 7-0 burst from the hosts, putting them further in-front but the French finished the third quarter positively and got to within four going into the fourth period, Seville led 59-55.
Seville began the fourth brightly, suffocating Orleans defensively, holding them scoreless for the first three minutes of the final ten minutes, while a Bogdanovic triple extended their lead to 64-55.
Orleans did respond with a 7-0 run to narrow the gap but Asbury had other ideas as he went on a one-man scoring spree to give Seville the cushion they needed to go on to victory.
Seville coach: Aito Reneses Garcia
“We didn’t play well in the first half, especially on offence, with no ball circulation. We improved in the second half but I have to say that we were limited because of our foul troubles. We haven’t been focused on working with intensity but then when it was tougher, in the second half, we were focused and working well. Orleans played a good game. Some of their players were making 20% of their three-point shots but they had a 64% from that range tonight, which is impressing and difficult to stop.”
Orleans guard: Caleb Green
“We made a lot of mistakes and Cajasol played really well tonight. We have to bounce back from this and make less mistakes if we want to keep our qualifying” options alive – even when we are aware we have little chances to go through after this loss.”
