Basketball / NM1: Toulouse stopped the momentum of the Sablais on their floor

Like the TBC, the Vendée club have aimed, in the medium term, an accession to Pro B, but were stopped in their tracks this Friday, November 12, end of series for Les Sables.

In recent encounters, even in their victories, TBC has suffered from big air pockets. Passengers certainly, but repetitive: in Lorient, where the score fell in the last four minutes from 52-69 to 71-75; against Vitré where, in the space of two minutes, the Toulousains conceded an 11-0 to win only by one point (71-70); in Angers, Tuesday evening, there was a little turbulence before the break (38-46, 18th; 47-49, 20th), then a big disturbance at the end of the match (75-71, 32nd; 100-79, 40th).
They were able to recover even if they were fragile, a huge chance for TBC who found the key to victory.

The Sablais were stopped in their tracks on Friday, November 12, against Toulouse, the team which managed to have as coach this summer, the silver medalist of the Sydney Olympics, Makan Dioumassi, arrived from Rueil to take the training of a team which since the start of the season has been shining thanks to an efficient quartet of foreign players:

• the Swiss Noah Burrell who followed Dioumassi from Rueil;
• Finnish and international Daniel Polenc who arrived with an Austrian title in his luggage;
• the Bulgarian, born in Malaysia, Siméon Lepichev, who knows France because he was trained there notably in Poitiers and Vichy;
• and, best for the end, the American extreme Mykal Riley, 36, champion of France Pro B with Nanterre (in 2011 – club with which he won two European Cups in 2015 and in 2017), and champion of France Pro A with Le Mans (2018), who is the team’s top scorer with an average of almost 14 points.

The team in great shape with three consecutive victories in November was nevertheless in a strong position against Toulouse, necessarily weakened by the failure suffered in Angers.

Indeed, the Sablais took the best start (7-0, then 13-5) but the realistic TBC filled this first gap: 13-13 (8 ‘). A parity that we find in the second act (31-31, 19 ‘) even if, in the space of a few quality sequences, the Haut-Garonnais, at 26-18, seemed able to reverse the trend to their benefit.

With fewer possibilities of rotation than with their hosts, the visitors show the blow during the third quarter: 50-37.

Yet with the inherent experience, the free warning received last week from Vitré in the home stretch, Toulouse cannot let their opponents defeat them at home.

Like this boost sent by Cham (62-46, then 62-49), the recent winners of Tarbes Lourdes, Rennes and La Rochelle have not abdicated. But on the contrary, there is this Anderson force that succeeds. This time, the victory is won without trembling: 71-58 (38 ‘), then, to finish 74-63.

TOULOUSE – LES SABLES: 74-63 (17-18, 19-17, 16-7, 22-21).
Referees. MM. Talineau and Niang. 800 spectators.

TOULOUSE: Mopsus 5 points, Anderson 23, Gottin, Yao-Delon 7, Thimon 10, Yangué Tankeu 8, Solle 3, Aygalenq 6, Sahraoui (cap) 12), Kouyaté

LES SABLES: Cham 6 points, Racine 10, Lepichev 4, Burrell 6, Lessort (cap) 4, Dioumassi 3, Dolenc 8, Riley 22, Moellon, Noba.

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Gabriel MIHAI

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