Hapoel Holon fell to Cholet Basket 99-79 as their Basketball Champions League campaign began on the wrong foot in a game that as played in Samokov, Bulgaria that will serve as the purples home way from home due to the security situation in Israel.

Predrag Krunic’s side opened up strong as Adama Sanogo paced the hosts to a 23-19 lead after the opening quarter. However, Cholet scored at will as Malcolm Calazon, Digue Diwara and Mohamed Diarra all put in points to snatch a 52-32 advantage at halftime. Diarra kept pouring in the points in the second half while Amadou Fall and Noah Locke also scored to notch the 20-point win. Sanogo scored 22 points and Lester Medford added 15 points in the loss while Diarra scored 23 points and Fall put in 15 points in the victory.

Head Coach Predrag Runic discussed the loss, “The French team deserved the win. We started the game well on both sides of the ball but we lost control and the game in the second quarter. We had too many turnovers and we didn’t have enough patience and they scored easy points which decided the game.”

Adama Sanogo spoke about the loss, “We could have done better defensively, we started well and I don’t know what happened in the second half. I hope we can figure it out as we have another game Sunday.

Bnei Herzliya suffered an 86-75 road loss to Spanish side Joventut Badalona in the opening game of Group H in the Basketball Champions League. Amit Gershon came out firing with eight points in the first quarter, which Herzliya finished trailing 18-16. Yehu Orland’s team battled throughout, but could not overcome Badalona as they left 11 points at the free-throw line, shooting just 11-of-22 (50%), and were outrebounded 43-33 as the hosts shoot 65% from two-point range. DJ Bruton led Herzliya with 20 points, Zach Bryant added 13 points and DJ Burns scored 12 points in the loss while Amir Suleimanovic scored 20 points, Simon Birgander put in 14 points and Kwan Cheatham added 12 points in the win.