Melvin Ajinça (6’8″, 21 years old) made his mark during ASVEL’s victory over Boulazac (94-77). During a difficult period for his team, the Rhône-Alpes native delivered his best professional scoring performance, embodying the collective bounce-back of the Villeurbanne side.
Having already scored 20 points in late December 2024 for ASVEL against Paris (98-92), Melvin Ajinça raised the bar to 21 points this time. A career high for the former French national training center player, who relied on his shooting accuracy to reach this total.
Against Ousman Krubally and his teammates, Alexis Ajinca’s cousin delivered a nearly perfect shooting performance. He made all 5 three-point attempts he took, complemented by two 2-point baskets, while contributing in other areas with 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. A performance concluded with an efficiency rating of 24, whereas his previous record was set at 20, achieved in Pro B with Saint-Quentin in February 2023 against Aix-Maurienne.
Selected in the 2024 NBA Draft at 51st position by the Knicks, Melvin Ajinça continues to establish himself in ASVEL’s rotation. In Betclic ELITE, the forward is averaging 9.4 points and 2.4 rebounds in 21 minutes per game this season, confirming his growing offensive contribution in a squad seeking consistency.
This individual surge comes at the right time for Lyon-Villeurbanne, who were coming off three consecutive losses, including a particularly frustrating double-overtime defeat against Paris (93-98) 48 hours earlier.
Thanks to this victory, ASVEL gets back on track and consolidates its position in the upper part of the standings. The team coached by Pierric Poupet now occupies 4th place in the championship with a record of 10 wins and 5 losses, tied with three other teams. For the next championship game, Lyon will host Le Portel, who are last with 0 wins since having a victory withdrawn in December by the DNCG.
An opportunity to build momentum, while in EuroLeague, the club recovering from Nando de Colo’s departure will face 4 of the top 10 European teams at the end of January, with a first test on Thursday, hosting the league leaders, Hapoel Tel Aviv.
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