Some clubs fighting for the play-offs risk having trouble digesting Cholet’s success on Sunday in Monaco (79-66). As the decisive match looms, Wednesday at Gaston-Médecin, in the quarter-finals of the Euroleague against Fenerbahçe, after two matches in Istanbul in two days on Wednesday and Friday, the leader of the regular season of Betclic Elite has lined up a second team, which necessarily favored Cholet’s plans.
The French champions had even decided to put coach Sasa Obradovic to rest, replaced by one of his assistants, the Ukrainian Sergii Gladyr. With five players from the Espoirs team on the match sheet and five professionals, including the four French people available (Strazel, Jaiteh, Cornélie, Ouattara) and only one foreign professional, the pivot Donta Hall, Monaco held out for three quarters before die.
With, among other things, two assists from Matthew Strazel (16 points, 7 assists) at the buzzer in each of the first two quarters and the contribution of the young Iranian Mohammad Amini (19 years old, 12 points 8 rebounds), the “Roca Team » led the score at the break (40-38). And lasted about thirty minutes.
Cholet placed for the play-offs
Yakuba Ouattara’s teammates conceded an 11-0 at the start of the fourth quarter to take a significant advantage (69-56) which Monaco was unable to make up for. With an advantage inside (15 points, 8 rebounds for Neal Sako, 13 points for Emmanuel Nzekwesi), Cholet ended a bad series of five losses in a row. And finds itself in favorable waivers, after the defeats of Strasbourg, Saint-Quentin and Nancy on Saturday, with a view to qualifying for the play-offs.
Eighth, TJ Campbell’s teammates (11 points, 11 assists in Monaco) are one success ahead of their pursuers before the last day, Saturday May 11, when they will host Chalon, who has nothing left to play .
