Monaco joins Pau and Strasbourg in the semi-finals of the Coupe de France
Monaco goes on matches at a crazy pace but a beautiful star continues to watch over its way. Saturday, in Trélazé, on the outskirts of Angers, the teammates of Léo Westermann obtained a fourth success in seven days and in a third different competition. With a reduced squad but still dense despite everything, they qualified for the semi-finals of the Coupe de France against JL Bourg (74-65) and will therefore add a fifth match to their crazy schedule on Sunday, a third in three days !
Against the Bressans, the Monegasques had to whip more than in the Euroleague. Long behind and a bit powerless against the opposing athletic power, the JL (41% success rate, 11 out of 19 free throws) was brought to the edge of money-time by its rookie, Norris Cole, top scorer (19 points at 8 out of 20 on shots) of the match.
Long expensive, the former Miami, Monaco and Asvel, signed his return to France and his debut under his new colors with a personal 10-0 that gave a brief advantage (63-61) to the Bressans three minutes from the end and caused some trouble in the Monegasque domination.
Bourg little helped by its internationals Julien and Chassang
But his new team, little helped by its internationals Axel Julien (0 out of 2 on shots) and Alexandre Chassang (no shots in 20 minutes), then unscrewed a bit, chaining the loss of balls in the last two minutes to leave the ASM ensures its success, thanks to two baskets from Yakuba Ouattara and Paris Lee (16 points).
Sasa Obradovic had deprived himself of his five base, James, Diallo, Bacon, Thomas and Motiejunas, in great demand on Friday during the crucial Euroleague success against Vitoria. But his squad is as wide as the ocean and the Serbian coach reactivated a valuable Danilo Andjusic (12 points in 21 minutes), Rob Gray (3 out of 13) or the Ibrahima Fall Fay-Jerry Boutsiele duo (12 cumulative rebounds) to maintain the standing and the fire under the boiler.
The draw for the semi-finals played on Sunday at Trélazé will take place after the fourth poster on Saturday between Asvel and Gravelines-Dunkerque.