By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
A solid defensive effort combined with key offense by Alexander Madsen lifted VEF Riga over Cholet.
Behind a 70-63 victory, the Vefins jumped to 1-3 in Group C of the Basketball Champions League Regular Season.
Finnish Alexander Madsen tallied 10 of his 13 points in the second half of Tuesday’s Gameday 4 contest. Puerto Rican Isaiah Pineiro dropped a team-high 15 points. Jaizec Lottie chipped in 13 more points and Brendan Adams paired his 11 points with a game-high seven assists. Peteris Pinnis did not suit up for the Latvia champions.
The 0-3 start included the controversial ending to the away loss versus Cholet. Apart from notching the first win of the ongoing continental campaign and snapping a six-game losing streak in the Champions League, the Latvian club earned the tiebreaker advantage over the team coached by Laurent Vila.
With two games left in the double-legged round-robin schedule, the visitors were forced down to 2-2, Young guard Nathan De Sousa rolling his right ankle with 5:29 remaining in the fourth quarter added to a rough evening. In his first appearance since late September, experienced big Kim Tillie recovering from injury and lasting 3:43 in Arena Riga was positive.
Gerald Ayayi putting up a game-high 19 points, included nine in the second quarter, pushing Cholet to a short-lived six-point lead. Fueled by the 22-year-old guard, the second period was attached to 26 of the total team points in Riga.
Postgame press conference
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League