Despite a blazing first quarter, the Sharks Antibes suffered their first home defeat of the season, losing 70-74 to ASVEL, the reigning champions. Too inaccurate in the second half, the Antibois remain in the positive in the standings (3 wins – 2 losses).
The champion has pride. A wounded beast is dangerous, as was written in the local press this morning. JD Jackson’s men, despite being handicapped by a first quarter largely dominated by the Sharks, controlled the game for thirty minutes and secured their second victory of the season. The home team, however, is worrying.
Encouraged by the Azur Arena
After a balanced start, Kenny Gaines kicked off the hostilities with a 3-pointer, giving Antibes an early lead (7-4, 4th minute). The eternal Blue-Solomon connection worked wonders, but the man of this first quarter was Jonathan Tornato, who scored 8 points in just three minutes. The Sharks had opened up a gap, leaving ASVEL grimacing, especially without Adrian Uter who was unavailable (27-15). The well-packed Antibes arena savored the moment.
A Missing Offense
Euphoria was short-lived. The reigning French champions started the quarter with a 4-0 run, and Antibes failed to score for over 3 minutes, while Isaïa Cordinier committed his third foul. In summary, the beginning of the second quarter was catastrophic. Tre Simmons from long range and Tim Blue managed to turn things around, but ASVEL delivered a 7-0 run (33-21, 15th minute then 33-28, 18th minute). By halftime, the Sharks had a slight edge (35-32).
ASVEL Shifts Gears
The locals’ accuracy suddenly dropped from 63% in the first quarter to 40% by the end of the third. Tre Simmons monopolized the ball (too much) and ended the match with a poor 5/18 shooting. Nevertheless, alongside Tim Blue, he kept the Sharks in the game. Chris Otule took advantage of his stint to score some points and grab rebounds. Meanwhile, the very quick point guard Hodge and powerful center Watkins got the job done. The timeout called by Julien Espinosa was beneficial, and Antibes regained the lead (51-50).
Inaccuracy
The green team dominated the Azur team at the start of the last quarter with a brutal 10-0 run, led by a very effective Trent Meacham (11 points and 5 assists in total). Since scoring 27 points in the first quarter, Antibes struggled in attack. Between the 10th and the 35th minute, they scored only 27 points, just over one point per minute. Despite 6 points from Simmons and 5 from Solomon in this quarter, the damage was done, and ASVEL logically secured the win thanks to 30 points scored in the paint (compared to 12 for Antibes), 20 successful free throws (out of 27, against 7/8 for Antibes) and missing three players (Kahudi, Uter, and Nelson).
Post-match Reactions
Nianta Diarra (Sharks Antibes):
“We started well but later lacked aggressiveness. We struggled offensively, didn’t move the ball enough, and weren’t accurate. In the first quarter, we made shots, mostly on personal exploits. In the other three, ASVEL woke up and played a good match. The defeat is on us, offensively, because defensively we didn’t follow the instructions.”
Julien Espinosa (Sharks Antibes):
“What worries me is that we made this assessment after the Orléans game. We sounded the alarm. Some players struggle to bring the ball into the paint. We are condemned to progress because we dominate no one. Against HTV and Orléans, there is victory but we don’t dominate in production. We need to have the humility to add more to our game. We mustn’t rely solely on Tim Blue entering the paint.”
