By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Monaco is a EuroLeague contender and that means home wins are a must.
That was the case on the night Mike James became the first player to reach 5,000 career points in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
The final score was 92-83 for the home team behind 19 points by Mike James, 15 by Alpha Diallo, and Nick Calathes adding eight points, seven rebounds, and seven assists.
“There are nine points left, so everyone is important no matter who we play, we have to establish a base line of how we want to be in the playoffs”, said James after the final buzzer.
Trent Forrest with 15 points and Donta Hall with 13 were the top scorers for Baskonia which was in the game until the last two minutes but couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
Thanks to this result, Monaco, with a 16-9 record, remains third in the standings, while Baskonia dropped to 10-15.
Monaco closing it the right way
Monaco methodically created distance in the first half, leading 23-18 after the first period and 51-35 at halftime with Alpha Diallo scoring 10 points on 4/4 FG.
In total, the hosts had 80% efficiency in two-pointers (16/20) during the first 20 minutes of action, which is a mind-boggling number.
Things change in the second half, with Baskonia totally changing the momentum at the start of the third period with a 7-0 run (51-42) and then tying the score at 63 after a dunk by Donta Hall.
Monaco entered the last quarter leading by four (67-63), and everything was open again. Strazel, with a three, pushed Monaco’s advantage to seven points (70-63), but Baskonia got the lead 74-73 after a shot by Trent Forrest.
With five minutes left, Monaco was up 79-76 after three free throws by James, but Baskonia got the lead back (80-79) after a shot by Nikos Rogkavopoulos.
The two teams entered the last two minutes with Monaco up by two (85-83) and what followed with a 7-0 run by them (92-83) deciding the game.