Clutch Maledon. A basket and two free throws by Théo Maledon in the final seconds of a thrilling game gave Villeurbanne a hard-fought victory over Red Star Belgrade (77-74) on Euroleague Matchday 10 at the Astroballe on Thursday.

Asvel ended a run of five consecutive defeats with their third win of the season on the European stage, but remain stuck at the bottom of the standings with a record of three wins and seven losses. With the score 74-73 in the Serbian team’s favor, Maledon (26 points, 4 assists) restored Villeurbannais’ lead with thirteen seconds remaining (75-74), before hitting two free throws (77-74) to ensure the Rhodanians’ success.

The Villeurbannais played another solid game after holding off Olympiakos Piraeus in Athens on Tuesday, losing by just two points (94-92). Théo Maledon scored a Euroleague-record 31 points in the process.

Lauvergne and De Colo also decisive

Against Red Star, they led by eleven points at half-time (43-32) after winning the first two quarters (24-20, 19-12). As the Serbian team responded, led by Yago Dos Santos (13 points, 4 assists), Codi Miller-McIntyre (9 points, 5 assists) and Filip Petrusev (18 points), Asvel then lost the next two (15-19, 19-23) but still led by seven points going into the final ten minutes (58-51). Les Rhodaniens were pegged back by two Milos Teodosic free throws with 6:35 remaining (62-61).

Etoile Rouge, who had won two in a row, the last of which on Tuesday in Monaco (98-90), thought they could win, but they didn’t count on the will of Asvel, where Joffrey Lauvergne (13 points, 10 rebounds), Nando De Colo (8 points, 5 assists) and David Lighty (12 points) were also the main architects of the victory.

“It’s good because I always hear the refrain that Villeurbanne always loses at the end, but I would point out that 90% of Euroleague matches are won or lost at the end.“said Poupet. “Being competitive in the Euroleague right to the end is a good thing. I’m happy because the players deserve it,” he insisted, referring to “a victory of character”.“.