Titans controlled the trip to Lux Gare, defeating Société Générale-SES 70-58 after building a decisive first-half platform. The visitors led 22-11 after the first quarter and 44-20 at halftime, their largest gap at +24, and then managed the margin despite a late SOG push.
The tone was set early: from 2-2, TIT strung together an 8-0 burst to 10-2. They closed the opening quarter on a 10-0 run to 22-9, fuelled by Corentin Guissard (TIT) with back-to-back baskets and consecutive free throws. In the second period, Liviu Constantin Rusu (TIT) poured in six straight points to 28-15, and Miguel Gonzalez Vargas (TIT) added a three as the lead ballooned to 40-18. Two SOG unsportsmanlike fouls Yelysaveta Kalinichenko in Q1 and Nicolas Samson in Q2 contributed to the momentum shift.
Coach Hachim El Basri's side responded after the break. Nicolas Samson (SOG) found repeated lanes in the third quarter, and Sofiane Bah (SOG) carried the scoring load. Rusu opened the fourth with a three to 60-39, but Bah rattled off seven consecutive points to trim it to 62-46, and Mohamed Hakim Hammami (SOG) hit his second triple for 62-49. Coach Peter Mabic's Titans answered through Guissard and Rusu, pushing it to 70-50 before SOG finished on an 8-0 run to the final 58-70.
Numbers underline TIT's interior control: the visitors converted 27 two-pointers to SOG's 17. Both teams hit two threes, while SOG had the edge at the line (18 made free throws to TIT's 10). For TIT, Guissard (18) and Rusu (17, including a fourth-quarter three) led the way, with Gonzalez Vargas (13) and Mihnea Fulop (8) providing support. For SOG, Bah (26) dominated the scoring 12 free throws and seven two-point field goals backed by Samson (10), Hammami (8, two threes) and George Schneider (7). Despite SOG's late surge and timeouts used to halt TIT runs, the early deficit proved too steep.
(AI generated)