On Friday nights, two big names of the French league met, two teams you’d expect to be much higher in the standings and which instead are battling for a place in the playoffs with just a few games left in the regular season. It was Asvel versus Le Mans and the latter cruised to a comfortable 81-70 victory behind 17 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds from Alex Acker. Antoine Diot added 11 points and 6 steals while Pops Mensah-Bonsu collected a double double of 14 points and 13 rebounds for Asvel. Asvel and Le Mans are now tied with 35 points in 7th and 8th position and Pau could leapfrog them on Staturday with a win in Vichy, although Asvel has a game in hand.