Elan Chalon sur Saone made a perfect start to its Eurocup campaign with 59-83 win over Belgacom Spirou Charleroi in Group B on Wednesday. The visitors pulled away with a 2-16 run that bridged the first and second quarters, and its lead never came to question after that. A.J. Slaughter paced the winners with 14 points, Clint Capela amassed 12 points plus 10 rebounds, Herve Toure chipped in with 11, while Steed Tchicamboud finished with 10 points plus 6 assists for Chalon. For the hosts, Jorn Steinbach led with 11 points, while Mohamed Abukar scored 10.

The visitors started pulling away in the first quarter with a team effort. Aboudou Jordan and Slaughter started things, and Tchicamboud nailed a triple for 9-13. After Demond Mallet answered from downtown for the hosts, Capela put-back, and Mareks Jurevicus three-pointer helped make it 14-20 after 10 minutes. At the start of the second, Capela scored 6 more points, and David Michineau scored from behind the arc for 14-29. Steinbach snapped the run with a triple, but Chalon 's defense allowed only 5 more points the rest of the half, and the visitors held 22-35 at the break. In the third quarter, Mallet sparked Spirou's offense, assisting for Wen Boss Mukubu's dunk, then scoring a fastbreak layup and hitting a triple, cutting it to 32-40. But Jon Brockman scored basket-plus-foul, and Ilian Evtimov nailed a triple, helping visitors keep a double-digit lead. After trading threes with Steinbach, Tchicamboud hit a jumper and Josh Bostic scored a fastbreak layup for 43-57 after three quarters. At the start of the fourth, Capela and Herve Toure each made a slam-dunk to extend the margin to 45-63, and Chalon cruised to victory.