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30 April, 2017
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19/01/2017
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Strasbourg win to stay in the hunt for second in Group D

STRASBOURG (Basketball Champions League) - SIG Strasbourg snapped a two-game losing skid in the Basketball Champions League and kept their hopes of a second-place finish alive in Group D with a 71-56 triumph over Cibona on Wednesday evening.

The French outfit improved to 8-5 with the home win and now trails Iberostar Tenerife (10-3) and Sidigas Avellino (9-4) heading into the last week. Fourth-placed Juventus Utena are also 8-5.

Cibona, seeking a vital win to improve their chances of making the Play-Offs, instead dropped to 5-8.

Vincent Collet's Strasbourg led from start to finish, although it did not put the result beyond doubt until the fourth quarter when it outscored the visitors 16-8.

AJ Slaughter and Erik Murphy paced the winners with 13 points apiece while Erving Walker weighed in with 11. Paul Lacombe also turned in another all-round performance for SIG with 7 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals.

Collet was happy that his players were focused from the opening tip.

"We started the game very well defensively," Collet said. "It's been a long time since we were that aggressive to start the game." 

Facing a confident Cibona outfit that had won the first encounter and one that had also reeled off back-to-back victories in its previous two games, Strasbourg set the tone when they scored the first seven points of the contest. Pape Sy had a pair of baskets in the early burst and Matt Howard the other.

"We had to step up in the game because in the first game at Cibona, they just killed us," Sy said. "We just wanted to come out hard, play physical and strong, as they were playing the first game, and try to play tough and executive the game-plan."

Cibona remained within striking distance, though. They trailed 36-31 early in the second half after a 3-pointer from Nebjosa Joksimovic. That's when Walker and Slaughter struck with consecutive 3-balls to spark a run that finished with the former hitting another shot from the arc for a 47-31 advantage.

The visitors managed to claw the deficit back to seven points by the end of the quarter but did not score again until 4:30 minutes into the final quarter when a Luka Zoric basket cut the Strasbourg lead to 61-50.

The hosts eased to victory over the last half of the quarter. They will travel to Montenegro next week to go up against KK Mornar Bar. A win there and a loss for Sidigas Avellino at home to Juventus Utena would allow SIG to climb into second place.

The five group winners and the three best second-place teams will go straight to the second round of the Play-Offs.