Paris (AFP)
Cholet overturned the hierarchy by winning at home against Dijon 83 to 73 on Saturday, and signed his second victory of the season, as part of the 8th day of the French Basketball Championship.
Cholet had not played since October 16 in Elite and ended with this victory a series of three defeats in the league.
Dijon, which remained on a defeat in mid-November against Monaco (70-62), lost ground in the race for the podium and stagnated in 4th place.
Tied at the end of the first quarter (20-20), Cholet widened the gap in the second and led by five points at half-time.
Laurent Legname's players never found the solution to come back during the second half, between the too many failures at 3 points (8/27) and the poor performance of the leader David Holston.
The individual performance of Alexandre Chassang, 23 points, could not avoid defeat.
For his second victory only of the season, in six games played, Cholet relied on five players over ten points.
Note the performance of Gerry Blakes, top scorer and author of 24 points, and the new recruit for a season, the American interior Aaron Jones (10 pts).
This meeting marks the resumption of the French Basketball Championship, almost at a standstill since the establishment of a new confinement on October 30.
Only seven Elite matches had taken place since, those televised, because, for many clubs, playing behind closed doors is at a loss.
Even if the halls remain closed to the public in December, the LNB decided on Tuesday that "in view of the financial aid allocated by the government, (...) each team will participate in a home championship match behind closed doors", thus scheduling the total 17 meetings by the end of the month.
If the regular season is contested until its end, the LNB has put five options on the table and gave a mandate to the Management Committee to organize the end of the season.
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