By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
A brilliant showing for Cholet with the support of the crowd packing La Meilleraie to snap a six-game losing streak across all competitions.
Trailing for only 24 seconds and instead leading by a double-digit margin for large stretches earned the win, 97-86, against Darussafaka Lassa on Tuesday.
Tidjane Salaun fell narrowly shy of his career-high with 25 points in Gameday 5 of the Basketball Champions League Regular Season. The 18-year-old forward connecting 5/6 triples highlighted a team total of 14/29. Neal Sako scored 22 points, also an individual high for the 2023-24 season. Pulling down ten rebounds made a double-double for Sako, similar to Terrance Campbell with 11 points and ten assists to his name.
Newcomer Craig Randall II was ineligible despite efforts of the French club to register the 27-year-old guard. The all-time leading scorer of the BCL Vojtech Hruban being a late scratch due to injury limited options for head coach Laurent Vila to ten players, including numerous youngsters.
Improving to 3-2 matched Lenovo Tenerife on top of Group C ahead of the direct meeting between the two teams in Gameday 6. Down to 2-3 and tied with VEF Riga, Dacka plays a win-or-go-home matchup versus the Latvia champions on December 19.
A season-high 25 points by Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman was not enough to get the job done in Cholet. Head coach Yakup Sekizkok was ejected with quickfire technical fouls in the first half.
Postgame press conference
Leading scorer Kyle Allman Jr. was released on Monday evening. His move to fellow Istanbul outfit Besiktas Emlakjet was completed before the game.
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League