Gérald Ayayi, his team’s top scorer with 16 points, shared his thoughts with Ouest France, stating:
“This reflects our season of resilience. We fought for it until the very end, playing 45 minutes. It’s a true collective victory, and there’s nothing better for qualifying for the semi-finals. We struggled at the start, but it was up to us to gradually intensify the game and stay composed, because we knew we would have runs. We knew we would come back, stop by stop, possession by possession. We became tougher: personally, I would have liked to have more fouls early in the game, but we adapted. We became Cholet again: we wore down the opponent physically. Now, we’re not going to the semi-finals to just participate. We have confidence; we know that when we play with intensity, we can match any team. Last season we also had a great season. This victory is also for them, the players from last season. Fabrice (Lefrançois) took the lead two years ago, and tonight is the culmination. I’m happy to offer this to the people of Cholet: I can’t wait to see them again, I can’t wait to see the madness that it will be at La Meilleraie in the semi-finals.”
