Despite Paris Basketball’s impressive performance, including 15 three-pointers (a third of which were scored by Yakuba Ouattara) and dominance in rebounding by their interior duo Enzo Shahrvin (15 points) and Mohamed Faye (12 points), Cholet Basket showed resilience. After trailing significantly (47-67 in the 26th minute), CB mounted a comeback, narrowing the gap to just four points in the crucial final minutes before ultimately falling short.
Here are the comments from two key players, as reported by Ouest France:
Nathan De Sousa (Cholet Basket):
“We started the game very poorly. Against a EuroLeague team, that’s not acceptable. We need to be more consistent; conceding 32 points in the first quarter is far too much. We must start better. They came at us hard, and we made defensive errors. They also grabbed far too many offensive rebounds. However, it’s up to us to stay focused because there’s a Game 4 on Tuesday. We must go and get a Game 5 in Paris. We need to work a bit harder to score from three-point range, that’s the truth. We have to hold onto what we did to come back, spurred on by a loud Meilleraie crowd. We must not give up; that’s our DNA since the start of the season. We see that they are beatable; we can play against this team eye-to-eye.”
Yakuba Ouattara (Paris Basketball):
“We did a good job. In the first two games, Cholet was the team that struck the first blow, so to speak. This time, we wanted to impose our rhythm from the start. Honestly, we did a really good job without panicking (when they came back). The whole team stayed focused and united to find solutions at the right moment. We are warned; Cholet is a very good team with a huge heart that never gives up. Plus, they are driven by their fans. We know the next game will be completely different. Tonight, offensive rebounds were a huge advantage for us.”
