By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Daniel Theis with 17 points and 10 rebounds, Mike James with 18 points, and Alpha Diallo with 13 points and big plays down the stretch, helped Monaco get the 82-79 road win in Milan.
It was a game decided on details, with Devin Booker having 15 points and eight rebounds. Shavon Shields added 13 points, and Lorenzo Brown had 12 and seven assists, but lost the last chance to send the game to overtime.
Thanks to this win, Monaco has a 2-1 record, while the Italians dropped to 1-2.
Monaco opened the game leading 22-17 after the first period and kept a 41-36 halftime lead.
Milan tied the score at 45; however, perfect Theis gave the 47-45 lead back to Monaco, having already 16 points on 7/7 FG and 10 rebounds, and that was the start of an 11-3 run completed by back-to-back threes by James.
Monaco led by eight for the first time (56-48), but at the start of the last period, the guests had just a four-point cushion (66-62). Monaco pushed the lead to 10 points (79-69), Milan reacted and, with a four-point play and a bucket by Marko Guduric, made it a two-point game (79-77) with one minute and a half left.
Nikola Mirotic made one of two free throws against his former team (80-77), Devin Booker answered back (80-79), James missed, Alpha Diallo blocked Shields, and with 15.5 seconds left, Monaco got the ball.
Matthew Strazel made two free throws (82-79), Lorenzo Brown had a last chance, and tried to get the foul on a three-point shot, but no whistle sounded as the game was over.
Paris got it easy
Paris Basketball also got the 90-77 win over Virtus Bologna as Nadir Hifi led a high-octane offense with 2o points.
After leading 49-40 at halftime, the hosts never looked back. Matt Morgan, with 21 points, was the top scorer of Virtus, as Carsen Edwards scored 11 points with one made three out of seven attempts.
Paris led by 18 points (86-68) on the way to a 2-1 record, while Virtus was left at 1-2.