Strasbourg extends lead in French Pro A

French Pro A league leader Strasbourg IG took down Champagne Chalons-Reims Basket, 69-73, to expand its lead over the rest of the teams. They are now 26-4 in what has been a very impressive 2014/15 season thus far. Second-place team JSF Nanterre will play in on the 30th, but are still 23-6 and a win would still have them trailing by two games.  The loss was a devastating one for Champagne franchise as they are now 15-15 and slide down to 10th place. Third-place team Limoges CSP Elite suffered a loss on the road at the hands of Entente Orleans and they are now 20-10. Strasbourg has been solid so far and they are focused on that championship cup. The last time they won a French Pro A title was way back in 2005.

Chalons-Reims came prepared to face the league’s top team and they executed their game plan well in the beginning. They started off hot and zipped to an early 21-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. Strasbourg was not going to be put away so easily. Ali Traore rallied his team and Strasbourg raised their defensive intensity by several notches. They virtually shut down their hosts in the second quarter and seized control of the game. By halftime, the guests moved ahead with a six-point lead, 31-37.

This was an exciting game as it was tightly contested by both squads. Chalons-Reims leaned on their homecourt advantage and came alive once again in the third period. Mark Payne was aggressive and Strasbourg had difficulty keeping him in check for most of the game. With one last quarter remaining in the game, the hosts held on to a slim 49-48 lead. The last quarter, both teams went all out and both offenses went into high gear during the highest scoring frame of the game. In the end, Strasbourg was able to outscore Chalons-Reims 20-25 to eventually take the win.

Ali Traore led Strasbourg with 17 points, while Antoine Diot chipped in 15 points of his own. Mark Payne’s 21 points was not enough to lift his team this time. His teammates Morris Curry and Darryl Watkins added 11 points each.