POSTED BY: Eurobasket Center
Vallee-du-Tir was unable to defeat the tahitian champions Aorai in the 2006 Pacific Champions Cup and lost the game 55-64. The season is over for the caledonians while Aorai will play in the next round of the French Cup.
After last season's short loss in Tahiti, the Vallee wanted a revenge. But the players from Tahiti were very motivated and their captain Honoura Bonnet carried them to a great first quarter, they had a 9-24 lead at the end of the first quarter. Aorai shooted well and dominated on the boards.
"I'm of course disapointed because we were not far from the win" said Eric Saminadin. " But if my players were more motivated in the training sessions, we could have done something. There are no secrets, work paid off. The tahitians were very well prepared, they produced a better defense and we lost too many balls. Our defense was bad and at the end of the game we could just look at the score. Now we will go on vacations and go back to work next season".
JSVDT displayed a better defensive game in the rest of the game and thanks to a solid performance from Fabrice Chaliot and Stephane Saminadin, the caledonians cut the lead down to 7 at half-time break (28-35). The third period was very intense and despite great efforts from Chaliot in the paint, Aorai was still leading 40-49 with 10 minutes left. Stephane Saminadin put the game on fire with 8 consecutive points, his team started the last quarter on a 11-0 run to take the lead (51-49) for the first time. While everybody thought the game was falling into the Vallee side, the tahitians bounced back and scored a deadly 9-0 on the wings of Teniaro and Bonnet (51-58). The game was over and the tahitian players invaded the court to celebrate their fourth consecutive win in the Pacific Champions Cup. For the JSVDT players, Christmas will have a bitter taste.
"We were not focused enough in the opening minutes and the game was really tough" said Fabrice Chaliot. "We made a lot of mistakes while the tahitians were good in defense and in the paint. They have some great shooters who really killed us. It's obvious that we missed our best shooter, Raymond Weber, in this contest".
JSVDT - Aorai: 55-64 (28-35)
JSVDT:
Fabrice Chaliot 17pts
Stephane Saminadin 16pts
Benoit Weber 6pts
Benjamin Gutte 5pts
Gerard Girier-Dufournier 4pts
Marc Lemo 4pts
Jean-Baptiste Fuller 2pts
Moana Mana 1pts
Jean-Claude Chaliot 0pts
Yann Mathelon 0pts
coach: Eric Saminadin
Aorai:
Honoura Bonnet 18pts
Novick Teniaro 15pts
Beo Tetuaiteroi 13pts
Heimana Gibson 8pts
Marere Coquil 4pts
Didier Laille 2pts
Heimana Teamotuaitau 2pts
Larry Teriitemataua 1pts
Marere Tuheiava 1pts
Thierry Cormier 0pts
coach: Pierre Villant
