Grim Draper Calls Time on Keravnos Upset Bid

SAOS Hyeres trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half and were still behind midway through the final quarter but won 88-85 at Keravnos in the EuroChallenge on Tuesday.

Dontaye Draper exploded for 29 points for Hyeres, hitting five of nine shots from long range.

Keravnos looked determined to banish the memory of last week's 78-55 home drubbing at the hands of Telekom Baskets and started well.

Panagiotis Trisokkas, Andre Woolridge and Barisa Krasic poured in the bulk of the points in the first quarter as they led 28-17.

The French outfit cut the deficit back to four points but ended up trailing 50-43 after Andreas Pilavas' jump shot at the buzzer for the Cypriot team.

A Draper three-pointer with 2:24 to go in the third gave Hyeres their first lead only for Keravnos to get their noses back in front.

LaMarr Greer's lay-up gave the hosts a 70-67 advantage heading into the last 10 minutes.

Keravnos scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to move in front 77-67 and it began to look as if victory might be theirs.

Jarrett Hart's lay-up with 7:39 to go extended the advantage to 81-69.

Draper sparked the French into life with one of his three-balls and Kyle Milling scored on a lay-up before Draper added two free throws to cut the deficit to 81-76.

Hyeres kept the pressure on and finally took an 86-85 lead on another Draper shot from long range.

Draper had an opportunity to secure the victory with eight seconds remaining but made just one of two free throws for an 88-85 lead.

Wooldrige was off target with a potential game-tying three-pointer for Keravnos two seconds from the end as Hyeres held on.

Greer led a balanced scoring attack for Keravnos with 15 points and Aleksandar Damjanovic contributed 15.

Quotes Keravnos vs. SAOS Hyeres

Mr Alain Weisz - SAOS HYARES Toulon Coach:

"I want to thank Keravnos for the hospitality. It was a very difficult game as Keravnos was in the lead all the time. We had to be courageous and not give up. We knew that it wouldn't be an easy game as Keravnos is a very good team with very good players like Jarrett Hart whom I had as a player in my previous team. We knew that he is typically not a shooter from outside and tonight he had 3 out of 3 shots because we did not mark him well. Keravnos' players have a lot of spirit and they fight hard. We knew that we had 80% chance to lose this game."

Piere Antoine Pierce - SAOS HYARES Toulon Player:

"We started playing slowly in defense at the beginning and allowed Keravnos to play their game and stay in the lead. Our coach told us that we need the rebounds and to play faster which we did. In the end the game was won because we improved our defense and got more rebounds in the second half."

Mr Vasilis Frangias - Keravnos Nicosia Coach

"Congratulations to the coach and his team for the win. We had the lead for most of the game and in the end we appeared tired and made too made mistakes and lost the game. Now it is very difficult for us to qualify but we will play the rest of the games and get the experience. Now we need to focus on the Cypriot League."

Jarrett Hart - Keravnos Nicosia Player:

"We tried very hard tonight but unfortunately in the end we had nothing to show for it. Our team came here tonight following two consecutive defeats and we actually played the typical Keravnos game for most of the game. I just want to say that I know my team and we are a family. We will pick up from here and try our best to win as many games as we can."