(Bennet Cantu opened Euroleague play at home versus Nancy of France)- David Lighty: 5 points in little over 7 mins of play
The Big Stage - Former Buckeye David Lighty and Bennet Cantu hosted the reigning French Champions, SLUC Nancy, on October 19, 2011. This was Cantu's first game in Europe's top competition in some 18 years and their first game in the modern Euroleague era. So it would be an understatement to say there was just a little bit of tension, nervousness and excitement in the jam packed Paladesio Arena for the Euroleague opener!Cantu - We feel like we have a decent handle on Cantu after watching multiple games in full. This is a veteran-laden team with an identity of offensive balance & strong defense. Cantu does not possess the extraordinary individual talent/athleticism that some of these other Euroleague teams feature, but what they have is experience, strong chemistry, and several guys who can pass & shoot. We watch a good amount of European basketball, most of these teams display a team-oriented style with good ball movement, but Cantu takes sharing the ball to even higher level..and they are really fun to watch when hitting on all cylinders.
Historical Win - There were certainly some questions heading into this one. How much run would David Lighty get in a contest of this magnitude? Would Cantu come out poised or nervous in the Euroleague setting? And how would they handle the athleticism & talent of center Akin Akingbala & current Portland Trailblazer, Nicolas Batum.Cantu actually looked very comfortable for a team in its first Euroleague game, and their spirited crowd definitely did all they could to support and at the same time create a tough environment for Nancy. David Lighty checked in for the first time at the 7:09 mark of the 2nd quarter and played until halftime. Lighty was matched up with Batum (pictured left: #55 defending Lighty) for a good part of his time, he played solid defense (did not surrender a bucket) and also hit both of his shot attempts! Dave would not see any more playing time after the 2nd quarter, but it was great that he was able to make positive contributions in limited action.
It was even at halftime (44-44), but that was when Cantu proceeded to put the clamps on Nancy by holding them to 8 points in the 3rd quarter, and then winning the fourth quarter (23-17) to grab a huge 80-69 victory. We thought Nancy's center, Akingbala might be a problem down low, and he did hurt Cantu with 20 points. But Batum (13 points) didn't really go off (in what was his Euroleague debut as well), and Cantu did a really good job of keeping Nancy's American guards Jamal Shuler (4 points) & John Linehan (4 points) in check which was the difference in our opinion.
(Clips from Cantu's youtube page, if you can stand 'Pet ShopBoys' by Richard Niles haha)
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