Dijon won 84-95 on the court of Dinamo Zagreb in the FIBA Europe Cup qualifiers, and thus took a big step towards the group stage.
Winner of the Coupe de France last season, JDA Dijon is playing this season in the FIBA Europe Cup, the last cup in the continental hierarchy, after having played in the Champions League (the third cup) for the last six years. But to secure a place in the group stage, JDA must go through a preliminary round, with a two-legged confrontation against Dinamo Zagreb.
The first match took place this Tuesday in the Croatian capital, and it went well for the Burgundians, who won 84-95 at the end of a generally well-controlled match. The first quarter was balanced and ended with a score of 24-24. Dinamo held on until 32-32 in the second quarter, before gradually cracking, which allowed Dijon to go into the locker room leading 42-47.
McDuffie decisive
After the break, the Croatians regained control of the match and, thanks to a 6-0, led 52-49. But they were almost never in front again… JDA responded with a 6-0 (52-55), then followed up with a 5-0 (54-60) and another 6-0 (59-68), to finally lead by ten points at the end of the third quarter (63-73). Zagreb managed to come back to -3 with seven minutes to go (73-76) and even took the lead (80-79) for twenty seconds with less than four minutes to go.
Dijon could have started to tremble, but Laurent Legname’s men managed the money-time well. Allan Dokossi, Joshua Obiesie and Axel Julien each scored two points, then the JDA’s top scorer Markis McDuffie (19pts at 5/7 shooting), who returned to Burgundy this summer, definitively buried Croatian hopes by scoring a three-pointer (80-88) with 1’39 left. It was ultimately an eleven-point victory for Dijon, who will therefore have a small cushion of advantage before the return match on Friday.
Dijon markers: McDuffie (19), Robin Ducote (6), Edwards (5),
Obiesie (18), Kamardine (5), Holston (6), Ware (10), Sengfelder
(8), Julien (6), Dokossi (12)
