A new edition of the U-21 Trophée du Futur started yesterday in Vichy (France), with the four games of quarterfinals. The hosts were knocked out by Nancy, while the best performance of the journey was for Giovan Oniangue ('91) -at the pic- and Mickael Var ('90) after leading Paris Levallois and Pau Orthez to the semifinals with a 25 evaluation. Check the history.
Paris Levallois 88 Gravelines Dunkerque 72: Paris Levallois earned the first ticket for the semifinals behind a great job of congolese forward Giovan Oniangue ('91), who scored 28 points (11/18 FG), grabbed 7 rebounds and made 3 steals. Another african, cameroonian Junior M'Bida ('90), added 13 points, 9 rebounds and 1 block. At the losing effort Chrislain Cairo ('91) ended with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists.
Le Mans 70 Cholet 58: Even the good performance of rising prospect Rudy Gobert ('92), who scored 14 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and put 3 blocks, Cholet couldn't make it. Le Mans was led by Kevin Mendy ('92), who finished with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 1 assist (even 5/15 FG), while Thomas Ceci ('92) added 11 points, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3/6 from downtown. Le Mans arrived to halftime 5 points down, but recovered.
Chalon 62 Pau Orthez 76: Team coached by Laurent Villa took another of the spots in the semifinals of Trophée du Futur after beating Chalon led by 2.05 Mickael Var ('90) with 21 points (9/14 FG), 7 rebounds and 6 steals, helped by Romain Hillotte ('91) with 15 points, 7 boards and 1 steal. At the losing effort only one prospect tailled more than nine points. Jordan Aboudou ('91) had 21 points (9/17 FG), 6 steals and 3 rebounds.
Nancy 71 Vichy 63: Hosts couldn't qualify for the Top-4 after shocking againts a team where Kevin Thalien ('92) ended with 17 points (6/12 FG), 4 assists and 1 steal. Seychellois Abdel Kader Sylla ('90), one of the stars of the league, had 9 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists. Malamine Bah ('91) wasn't enough for the local squad even he collected a double-double: 16 points (7/12 FG), 12 rebounds and 1 block.
Semifinals match-ups: Paris Levallois - Le Mans and Pau Orthez - Nancy.
Photo: Paris Levallois
