EUROCHALLENGE

Hot-shooting Roanne Basket led for most of the game but had to hold on at the end to defeat ZZ Leiden in Group I of the EuroChallenge Last 16.

Philippe Braud buried four of his five shots from long range and finished with 18 points for Roanne, who were 10 of 21 as a team on their three-point attempts.

The French club took the lead for good in the first quarter but saw the never-say-die Dutch team come back and reduce the deficit to just two points in the last minute.

Braud's three-pointer had stretched the Roanne advantage to 60-51 with 2:43 remaining but Leiden stormed back.

A shot from the arc by Arvin Slagter and then a dunk on a fast-break by fellow Dutch international Worthy De Jong reduced the arrears to 60-57 with 1:13 to go.

After Uchenna Nsonwu split a pair of free-throws, De Jong soared in for a lay-up to make it 61-59.

Dylan Page, who had also four three-pointers, made one of them to stretch the advantage back to 64-59 with 17 seconds to play.

Leiden called a timeout and got the ball to Patrick Hilliman, who scored with a hook shot to cut the deficit to three.

The hosts had to foul to stop the clock and Mouloukou Diabate sank two free-throws for Roanne before Page scored with a lay-up.

Leiden's Thomas Jackson sank two free-throws for the final score.