KORMEND (FIBA Europe Cup) - French giants Elan Chalon, who have their eyes set on reaching the FIBA Europe Cup medal rounds for the second year in a row, will begin their Play-Off campaign in Hungary against the biggest Second Round surprise Kormend.

Having already been scolded once by a Hungarian club, when they lost to Alba Fehervar in the Regular Season, Jean-Denys Choulet's side will be weary of the road trip against Kormend as well, especially due to their outstanding home record, where they have a 5-1 mark in international play this season.

Kormend advanced to the Second Round as one of the best third-placed teams in the Regular Season, but made vast improvements in all areas with the arrival of new head coach Gasper Potocnik from Slovenia.

Having gone 4-2 in the Second Round, the Hungarian side became the surprise winners of Group N after Nanterre 92 slipped up in Belarus against Tsmoki Minsk in the final week of action before the Play-Offs.

A head-to-head tiebreaker advantage against the French club opened the Round of 16 gates for the Hungarian club, but Kormend would likely have been left without a Play-Off ticket were it not for the unexpected Nanterre loss in Minsk.

The situation was a lot less complicated for Elan Chalon, who became the first team to secure a place in the knock-out stages of the FIBA Europe Cup ahead of time by winning the first five games in Group K before finishing the Second Round with a loss against Gaziantep in Turkey.

However, the defeat did not have any significant negative consequences for the French club, other than a slight knock confidence-wise, but the time in between the end of the Second Round and the start of the Play-Offs should be enough to put that away.

"It was a tough game. We came here without any pressure, because we were already qualified. They made some difficult three-point shots. In the locker room at the end of the first half, I talked that we have to qualify from first place. And my players came out and played much better in the second half. We managed to preserve our 19-point lead from the first game," said Elan Chalon coach Jean-Denys Choulet, whose side ended up losing only 92-80 in spite of trailing by over 30 points.

Including the latest result in Gaziantep, Elan Chalon have lost only three times in the FIBA Europe Cup this season, with the first two coming in the first part of the Regular Season, when the Chalon-sur-Saone side dropped games against Alba Fehervar and SL Benfica.

Kormend lost three times in the Regular Season alone and squeezed through to the Second Round by one point over Belfius Mons-Hainaut. In spite of starting the Second Round with a defeat in Nanterre, Gasper Potocnik's side went on to win the next four games in five tries to make the cut for the Play-Offs.

Elan Chalon's star forward Cameron Clark, who is averaging 19.4 points and 6.8 boards per game in the FIBA Europe Cup and was the competition's leading scorer in the Second Round, will have to be the number one defensive focus for Kormend.

Although there are plenty of other talented player on the roster such as Lance Harris, Axel Bouteille and Moustapha Fall, cutting off Clark and playmaker John Roberson, who is averaging 15.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 6.8 assists, from the rest of the team will be the difference between Kormend standing a chance to defy the odds one more time.

One thing Kormend coach Gasper Patocnik might have going in his favor is that his star players Terry Allen and Parrish Petty match up with the Elan Chalon key players in terms of positions and will keep them busy on the defensive end.

Averaging 20.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, Allen might be an even more potent scorer than Clark, while Parrish Petty, who has been filling the stat sheet with 13.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game, was the league leader in steals in the Second Round and will make life difficult for Roberson.

FIBA