EUROCHALLENGE

Pau Lacq Orthez suffered last-minute heartbreak in the EuroChallenge on Tuesday night as Keravnos scraped an 85-83 win in France.

Having trailed in the Group H game by 11 early in the second half, the hosts battled back.

Their fans, having watched the team struggle in France's top flight, began to hope for an unlikely victory when Orthez went on an 8-1 run, capped by two Teddy Gipson free-throws, to knot the game at 83-83 with 41 seconds to go.

Jean-Frederic Morency of Orthez fouled Marcus Moore and the 1.98m Keravnos point guard sank both attempts.

There was still time to make a potential game-tying, or game-winning shot so Pau called a timeout.

When play resumed, the ball ended up in the hands of Gipson but he was off target and the visitors from Cyprus celebrated a narrow win.

Keravnos, beaten at home by Artland last week, improved to 1-1 while Orthez dropped to 0-2.

William Hatcher had a game-high 19 points for Keravnos while Gipson's 15 led the hosts.