Partizan crowd pushes Le Portel past Antwerp; Nevezis sneak up on Avtodor

LE PORTEL (FIBA Europe Cup) - ESSM Le Portel roared to their first victory in the FIBA Europe Cup, downing the visiting Telenet Antwerp Giants with relative ease in front of an emphatic home crowd at Le Chaudron on Tuesday evening.

The home side fed off the energy from the fans in a 94-79 victory, as they raced out to a double-digit advantage over their Group A opponents from Belgium in the first half and were comfortably ahead the rest of the way.

After entering the fourth quarter with a 16-point advantage, Le Portel fell into a slight slump that had given Antwerp some hope after getting the gap within 10 at 84-74, but their comeback efforts were cut short.

Franklin Hassell was a steam engine on offense for coach Eric Girard with a team-high 17 points and 9 rebounds, with Jean-Victor Traore and Demond Carter collecting 15 points apiece.

Comme un soir de victoire... 💥😍 pic.twitter.com/u7HiYvzTmq

— ESSM Le Portel (@ESSMbasket) October 24, 2017

Tyler Kalinoski and Dennis Donkor had 23 and 21 points respectively for the Giants, as Ismail Bako and Jason Clark added 10 each.

Elsewhere, BC Nevezis also got their first taste of victory in Group B after registering an 84-83 upset over Avtodor Saratov in Kedainiai, with the one-two punch of Rihards Kuksiks and Valerii Likhodei posting 16 points each.

Fueled by the outside shooting of Kuksiks in the second half, the Lithuanian outfit took control of the up-and-down encounter and managed to hold the Russians at bay despite a couple of scoreless minutes at the end of the game.

A near triple-double in Group F by Proximus Spirou forward Seth Tuttle paved the way for a 72-60 victory against Hungarian champions Alba Fehervar, who suffered their second consecutive loss at home.

Tuttle collected 17 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals, while Kasey Hill equaled his game-high total of 17 points for the Szekesfehervar club who all of a sudden find themselves on the ropes on the group table.

Meanwhile, Egis Kormend fared better in the other Hungarian-Belgian battle of the day in Group D, moving atop the leaderboard after picking apart the visiting Basic-Fit Brussels for a 74-61 victory, with Eric Fanning leading the way with 15 points.

Montenegrin outfit Mornar Bar also improved to a 2-0 mark, as they held off a late comeback attempt by Kapfenberg Bulls to inscribe a 75-69 win into the Group C standings.

Nemanja Vranjes had 20 points for the winners and Brandis Raley-Ross chipped in with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, while Austria international Joze Rados collected 16 points and 7 boards for the Bulls.

FIBA