Rennes beat Kemper 89-73 in the French Cup on Thursday evening. The hosts controlled the game from the opening tip and never really looked back. By then the margin had opened up enough to make the finish straightforward.
Rennes come into this having lost their last outing against Nantes 91-92, so the win puts them back on track. Their form has been mixed — defeats to Blois and Nancy among the results — but they have the deeper squad to grind out victories when it matters. And here's the thing: Kemper knew exactly what they were walking into.
The visitors arrived with some momentum. They had beaten Evreux 102-83 and recovered from a loss to Blois with a win over Toulon. But that away defeat to Rennes back in April — 81-67 — sits in the memory. By then they had learned the pattern already.
The 16-point margin says Rennes were the better side tonight. Kemper have kept trying to find their rhythm, but the hosts tightened things up when it counted. A derby with no love lost, and Rennes took what they came for.
The result extends Rennes' run in the competition while Kemper must now look at what went wrong. Eighty-nine points is not a score that comes easy, and Kemper simply had nothing to do all evening in the second half.
