Nancy and Paris Levallois will play tomorrow the big final of the U-21 Trophée du Futur, held in Vichy (France), after beating their respective opponents today in semifinals. Kingsley Pinda ('92) and Giovan Oniangue ('91) led the victories with two great contests. Let's check what happened in each game.

 

Paris Levallois 79 Le Mans 73: Giovan Oniangue ('91) shined again driving his team to the win behind 19 points (8/16 FG), 10 rebounds and 1 steal. Paris Levallois struggled at three points line (3/17), but made it to the big final with a great team work and four players scoring in double-digits. Olushina Ikuesan ('91) added 15 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, while Malela Mutuale ('91) had 12 points, 8 assists and 6 boards (even 2/12 FG). At the losing effort Henri Kahudi ('91) finished as the best with 14 points, 9 assists and 3 steals.

 

Pau Orthez 71 Nancy 85: Team coached by Laurent Villa fought (at half time they were winning by 1 point) but finally lost against a squad led by guard Kingsley Pinda ('92), who finished with 25 points, 3 steals and 2 assists. Kevin Thalien ('92) added 19 points, 5 boards and 4 assists and Abdel Kader Sylla ('90) -at the pic- collected a double-double: 10 points and 11 rebounds. For Pau Orthez Remi Lesca ('90) tailled 21 points (7/11 FG) and dished 4 assists, while Romain Hillotte ('91) added 17 points and 10 boards. Not enough.

 

Photo: Patrice Saucourt