By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
It was an even battle until the final period when AS Monaco took off, and with a 15-0 run paved the way to an 86-67 victory against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv.
Jordan Loyd led the way for the winning side with 18 points and a PIR of 26. Donta wasn’t far behind with a perfect double-double of 12 points and ten rebounds, with 5-5 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line for a PIR of 25.
“I’m super proud because tonight we answered. They made a run in the first half, and a lot of times we put our heads down and stopped playing, but tonight we fought. I’m really happy about that. We are really excited and just wanna build off this; we gotta lot more work to do, this is just one game, and we are on to the next,” Loyd said.
Mike James had 12 points, six assists, and five rebounds, while Alpha Diallo and Elie Okobo added 11 points each.
For Maccabi, only two players stood out. Wade Baldwin with 17 points and six rebounds for a PIR of 22, and Bonzie Colson with 16 points and six rebounds for a PIR of 18.
“We found rhythm thanks to a good five on the pitch at the end of the match. At that time, I thought we looked great as a team. Our defensive work was magnificent in the second half! We won the first final, and there are still others”, the head coach of Monaco, Sasa Obradović, said, after his team improved to a 16-10 score.
Monaco finishing strong, Katash ejected
Monaco opened the game strongly, had an early 14-2 lead, and finished the first quarter with a 30:17 lead. But Maccabi responded after the break, leaving the host to just nine points in the second period and narrowing the gap to just 39-33 at halftime.
As expected, the third quarter was a battle of nerves, with the lead changing hands constantly. Maccabi had the biggest lead of just three points and went to the final break with a minimal advantage of 59-58.
But then, Monaco players took matters into their own hands and, with a 15-0 run, put the game to bed. It’s worth mentioning that Maccabi’s coach Oded Katash received a second technical foul in the midst of the hosts’ big run.
Spaking about how his team finished the game, the Israeli coach admitted: “The same thing that happened in the first quarter. They came out really aggressive and we let them play and we lost the game. It’s tough, we knew it was not going to be easy. We tried to give some few minutes of rest to some of our players but in the end, we lost defensively, I think but both quarters, first and fourth, also offensively, we are not patient enough.”
Maccabi forward Bonzie Colson agreed: “I think we gave ourselves a chance to win and they hit some big shots. We didn’t get some defensive rebounds, that hurt us. That definitely hurts but still, we have to continue to grow and get better. We still showed fight today, which shows our character, but we couldn’t get some stops and execute offensively down the stretch, and that hurt us. We just couldn’t get stops and our offense was out of flow. They played well, attacked the glass and executed.”