VEF picked up its second win in Group B and dropped Cholet Basket to 0-3 with a 69-53 victory on Tuesday in the Latvian capital. Courtney Sims posted 14 points and 9 rebounds, Antanas Kavaliauskas added 13 and 8, Tyler Cain 12 and 6 and Kristaps Janicenoks tallied 11 points and 6 assists for the winners. Cholet started strong behind center Romain Duport, but in a seesaw battle, Riga led by 6 after 10 minutes and Cholet by 4 at halftime. Riga stormed ahead to a double-digit advantage in the third quarter and then opened the fourth with an 11-1 run to essentially ice the win. Fabien Causer paced Cholet with 15 points, Randal Falker posted 12 points and 13 rebounds, Duport scored all of his 11 points in the first quarter and Carl Ona Embo added 10 in defeat.

Cholet went to Duport early and he scored on his team’s first four baskets in the first four minutes for a 4-8 lead. Janicenoks second basket kept Riga within 6-8. An Ona Embo triple extended the Cholet cushion, but 4 points from Cain kept it close. After a basket-plus-foul for Duport and a 10-14 score, Dairis Bertans hit a three and Curtis Millage hit a pull-up jumper for the hosts’ first lead. Cain eventually ended a 10-0 run that gave VEF a 20-14 lead. Kavaliauskas extended the lead to 8 before Falker’s tip in made it 24-18 after 10 minutes. Ona Embo connected from behind the arc and soon Causer did the same to even the score at 26-26. Falker’s rejection of Millage started a fast break that Causer finished to put the visitors on top 28-29. But Marque Perry’s first points put Riga ahead 32-30. However two more baskets by Falker made the lead switch hands again and Cholet went into the break with a 32-36 cushion.

Riga came out for the second half within more energy and after tying the score three times, broke through on a Millage three. Bertans added a three-point play to go to 48-42 midway through the third quarter. Despite a basket by Falker on the offensive glass, Kavaliauskas and Sims extended the Riga lead to double figures, 54-44. Falker got one back to get within 54-46 through three quarters. Janicenoks stepped up with a steal and assist to Valetrs and then a three of his own to push the lead to 13. A Causer free throw three minutes into the fourth quarter represented Cholet’s only point of the first six minutes of the period as VEF surged and settled down with an 18-point lead that paved the way to victory.