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May 15, 2023

Home » News » SIG Strasbourg’s U18 Team Finishes Vice-Champion of France After Tough Final Loss to Gravelines byarchywordys No Comments Abdel Loucif’s U18 team finished vice-champion of France after losing in the final against Gravelines 78 to 68. A difficult end for our young people, but beyond the result, it will above all be necessary to retain a season rich in work, self-sacrifice, strong moments… moments that unite a group and bind strong friendships for a lifetime. Vice-champions “only” perhaps, but what a great season it was for what constitutes the best result in the history of the club in this category. Donne In search of a first title of champion of France U18 in the history of SIG Strasbourg, the team of coach Loucif had to face the BCM Gravelines-Dunkerque. A final between the two favorites of this Final 4 U18. With a record, before this final, of 23 wins and 4 losses this season, for the SIGmen and 25 wins for only 2 losses for the BCM U18s, it is difficult to identify a real favorite at kick-off. First half: blow for blow The young people from Gravelines started very strong. Playing at a very high tempo and being very aggressive in defense, they quickly took off: 16-6, 5’30. The delay was even going to reach 11 units, but fortunately Hugo Bonaton answered present. By scoring 7pts in 2′ he was the prime architect of a 3-9 which felt good: 19-15, 8′. The score was not going to move until the end of the first quarter, but the run had the merit of having rebalanced the debates: 19-15, 10’. Indeed, even if the U18s of the BCM deployed a high quality game, our SIGmen were again in the race. So at 29-27 at the 13th minute, the cards were folded again after an award-winning Maxence Lemoine. The SIG Strasbourg defense was better and overall the game was now very balanced. The score of 2th quarter was a perfect illustration of this. With a 20 to 20 in this period, the gap did not move one iota before the break: 39-35, 20’. Second half: prohibitive air hole in the 3th quart Coach Loucif asked to defend even harder and that’s exactly what our SIGmen did and it resulted in a 4-9 that allowed them to lead for the first time: 43-44, 22’30. The BCM did not let it go and responded tit for tat to restore air by relying on a good outside address: 55-47, 27’30. When they thought they had done the hardest part by taking control, their game was falling apart by falling into the trap of a precipitation that they imposed on themselves, but which was useless and which, alas, put our young people 10 lengths behind: 59-49, 30’. The BCM had just achieved the most difficult part. By reaching this bar of 10pts, the young Maritimes knocked out the players of Abdel Loucif who were not going to recover. The clock slipped during the last quarter and Gravelines managed their lead (66-53, 33′). Our youngsters did a few close matches (66-58, 35’… 71-61, 38′), but the awkwardness suffered during this second half and the air hole in 3th quarter (16-5 between the 25′ and the 30′) were expensive… very expensive… because in the end, the title of champion of France fell into the hands of the BCM who won 78 to 68. [U18] : The Table of the Final4 Saturday May 13 1/2 finale #2 : ASVEL- SIG Strasbourg 59-80 Sunday May 14