Thanks to this new victory, AS Monaco is qualified for the final phase of the Elite.
Leader Monaco officially secured their ticket to the final phase of the Basketball Elite by winning against Gravelines-Dunkerque (73-67) on Tuesday, while Asvel overthrew Le Mans to win narrowly (80-79).
Seven days before the end of the championship, the Roca Team is almost assured of 1st place after its 22nd victory (five defeats) and now has four more successes than Boulogne-Levallois, which it dominated on Sunday (87-68) .
The Monegasques were carried by the duo Alpha Diallo-Donatas Motiejunas, both authors of 18 points and more active than the American leader Mike James (eight points only), usually offensive leader of his team.
At the same time, Asvel reversed a badly started situation on the Le Mans floor. Led 29-14 at the end of the first quarter, the Villeurbannais came back up to par at half-time (38-36) thanks to a collective awakening initiated by their playing master Nando de Colo.
But by losing the third quarter 30 to 22, the players of TJ Parker got back into trouble. It took a top-level performance from Nando de Colo (33 points with a stunning 7/9 three-pointer), decisive when he planted a prize-winning shot 32 seconds from the end of the match to bring his team back to one point (79-78).
Le Mans winger Valentin Chery then missed two free throws and then the Villeurbannais exploited their very last opportunity to score the winning shot, an easy basket scored by their pivot Youssoupha Fall (80-79) 0.3 seconds from the buzzer.
Acquired after a hard struggle, this victory is precious for the club which fell back in the standings after having had two victories withdrawn by the financial policeman of French basketball who reproached him for not having transmitted to him “documents necessary for the accomplishment of its mission concerning two players of the professional staff of the club».
Asvel, which has won the last three French championships, is still fifth with a record of fifteen wins for nine defeats.
In front of Villeurbanne appear Dijon and Cholet (sixteen victories, ten defeats), which clash on Saturday. In the other match of the evening, Bourg-en-Bresse beat Le Portel (76-71) and took advantage of the defeat at Le Mans to climb to sixth place.