Cholet Win Thriller At Telekom Baskets

Cholet Basket struck an important blow in their bid to advance from the EuroChallenge Top 16 by winning on the road at Telekom Baskets Bonn.

Kevin Levelle Braswell had 17 points for Cholet

Claude Marquis weighed in with 16 points and Vincent Grier 15 for Cholet.

Telekom Baskets led by nine late in the first half and went to the changing rooms on top 34-26 but they weren't able to press home the advantage.

Instead, Cholet fought back in the second half and the game remained tight until the very end.

Earl Rowland's jump shot for Bonn with 2:03 remaining knotted the contest at 66-66.

That's how it stayed until Grier caught a pass from Rodrigue Beaubois and went in for a lay-up with 1:21 to go.

Brandon Bowman tried to reply for home side Bonn but was off target with a jumper.

Cholet could have padded their lead but instead they left the door open as Grier missed two free throws.

But Bonn's Ken Johnson missed a jump shot with 34 seconds to go and Beaubois then added two free throws for a four-point advantage.

Earl Jerrod Rowland

He went to the line and made the first to take his points haul to 17 and cut the deficit to just three.

Rowland then intentionally missed the second and Bonn rebounded.

Moussa Diagne was able to launch a three attempt before the buzzer but he missed as Cholet held on.

Bonn were out-rebounded 42-31 and they struggled shooting the ball inside the arc, making 14 of 33. It was three-point shooting that kept the home side in the game, in fact, as Telekom Baskets drilled nine of 27 compared to Cholet's four of 17.

Quotes Telekom Baskets vs Cholet Basket

Michael Koch, Telekom Baskets Bonn head coach:

"Congratulation to Erman Kunter and Cholet Basket. We played against a team which plays as athletic and physical basketball as our team. We were afraid of attacking the basket in the deciding minutes of the match. We payed too much attention to our three-pointers instead of playing the inside game. At the moment we have some problems in rebounding because some of our best rebounders are missing due to injury."

Brandon Bowman, Telekom Baskets Bonn forward:

"I think we can play better than we did tonight. Cholet is a very physical team and they outrebounded us by a lot. Maybe we were a little bit tired at the end but this is not an excuse for our performance tonight. Now we have to play better in the next game on the road in Den Bosch."

Erman Kunter, Cholet Basket head coach:

"Even though they were missing some good players, Bonn played very well tonight. Especially in the second half we did a good job in defense. We knew that Bonn was a little bit tired at the end of the game because they had an overtime-game in the German Bundesliga on Sunday. It was our advantage that my team was fresh at this game deciding period."

Claude Marquis, Cholet Basket center:

"We did our main job in defense and worked very hard because we knew that Bonn is a very strong team offensively. Our success tonight was a big step toward the Quarter-Finals because in European competiton it is important to win at least one game on the road."