Zaki nails his first points in the semis

Amadou Aboubakar Zaki

Amadou Zaki (215-C-88, college: Saint-Brieuc) and his Nancy are struggling in the semifinal series in France. The latter held off ASVEL 86:75 at home court. The second-ranked squad of the regular season got to a better start and accumulated a 27:19 lead after the starting stanza. ASVEL failed to threaten the deficit throughout the reminder of the contest and had to surrender at the end. Nancy looked pretty comfortable driving to the victory in this one. Mike Bauer topscored with 24 points and 8 boards for the hosts. Ricardo Greer scored 17 points, while Jeff Greer had 13 points for the winners. Laurent Foirest answered with 15 points for ASVEL. Uche Nsonwu provided 13 points and 9 boards in defeat.
An impressive fourth-term comeback rally from ASVEL allowed them to celebrate a vital 92:79 win in the second leg encounter against Nancy in the LNB semifinal series. The teams became now tied at 1-1 and would move back to Nancy for the third and decisive game on Friday. The teams were equally matched in the regular season but Nance proved stronger in the series opener at home court. However ASVEL found the right answer at the home premises. Although it was not an easy ride for ASVEL. Nancy got to a better start to the game and quickly posted a 30:21 lead at the first intermission. The tempo was impressive and the teams threw all they had with the stakes being too high. ASVEL cut the deficit to 8 points at halftime. Vincent Collet used just 7 players in rotation for the game but depleted ASVEL squad still managed to come as close as 2 points from the visitors in the third stanza. The initiative was in the hands of the home team as they entered the fourth period. Lamayn Wilson led the charge for ASVEL as his sizzling performance became a key to Villeurbanne's success. He bombarded the basket from beyond the arc hitting 7/11 three-point attempts and ASVEL surged ahead leaving Nancy behind stunned. The hosts accounted for 32 points in the final quarter and grabbed an impressive victory to stay in the series. Lamayn Wilson poured in 37 points and collected 7 boards to lead ASVEL. Laurent Foirest knocked down 15 points, while Robert Conley provided 13 for the winners. Mike Bauer notched 21 points for Nancy. Amadou Zaki provided 4 points, while Cyril Julian nailed 15 points in a losing case. The hosts outrebounded their opponents 31:26 and shot 45% from the field.