Published on March 11, 2022 at 10:48 p.m.

Aurélie SACHELLI

The defending champion received a big slap in Monaco! ASM won with a score of 102-80 against Efes Istanbul on Friday during the 29th day of the Euroleague. Unleashed, the Roca Team, which has been alternating between victories and defeats on the European scene for the past few weeks, recovered well after its defeat last week in Barcelona by crushing the Turks, however better ranked. There was not the slightest suspense in this meeting where Monaco won all four quarters. The Monegasques were already leading 25-19 at the end of the first quarter, then 49-38 at halftime. The gap increased further in the third quarter, with an impressive +19 (75-56), and the Turks did not even manage to reduce it in the last, lost 27-24, for a total outlay of 22 points.

Monaco seventh but…

Mike James, author of 27 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, was the great architect of the Monegasque victory, and he was well helped by Alpha Diallo (19pts, 6rbds), while opposite, only Vasilije Micic ( 25pts, 8pds) exceeded 13 points. Thanks to this eleventh victory in 24 games, Monaco occupies seventh place in the standings seven days from the end, which qualified the Roca Team for the quarter-finals and guaranteed them a place in the Euroleague next season if things remained there. . But the Euroleague should soon decide that the results against Russian clubs (Zenit St. Petersburg, CSKA Moscow and Kazan) will not be taken into account., which should push back Monaco, particularly brilliant against them, in the standings. We will therefore have to win as many games as possible by the end of the regular season. Starting with the one against Olympiakos (4th) on March 23.

Monegasque markers: Bacon (8), Motum (3), Hall (11), James (27), Lee (14), Thomas (7), Diallo (19), Motiejunas (9), Ouattara (4)