Stark's buzzer-beater sends Orléans Loiret to next round
MBB: Orléans Loiret advances to French Pro B League semifinals
Jonathan Stark’s basket as time expired lifted Orléans Loiret to a 90-89 win over Lille in the deciding Game 3 of their French Pro B League Best-of-3 quarterfinal series.
Orléans Loiret jumped out to a 48-37 halftime lead, and led by as many as 16 when they pushed their advantage out to 59-43 midway through the third quarter. Lille rallied back to take an 89-85 lead late in the fourth quarter, but they’d never score again.
After Orléans Loiret got back to within 89-88, they had the length of the floor to go with just five seconds remaining. That’s when Stark, the 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, took the inbounds pass and dribbled hard up the left side of the court. Once he got inside the three-point line, he tried to go behind his back to cut toward the middle of the floor, but he lost the handle temporarily. As he took a step back and gathered the ball to shoot, Stark rose up and nailed the 15-foot jumper to send Orléans Loiret into the semifinals.
Stark finished with ten points on 4-of-8 shooting. He also chipped with six assists in his nearly 36 minutes of playing time. Aside from Stark’s heroics, Orléans Loiret’s Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson stole the show with his 40 points, including 8-of-9 from three-point range, in the series clinching win.
With the victory, Orléans Loiret advances to the league semifinals to face Châlons-Reims. Game 1 will be played Sunday.