By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After a hard-fought game, Monaco flirted with disaster but got the 79-78 win over Valencia.
Playing without injured Jordan Loyd, Jaron Blossomgame and Mike James scored 17 points each, leading the winners to a 20-11 record as they continue their run toward the home-court advantage.
“We played five games in seven days, we are tired, there’s a lot of fatigue”, said James who had also two steals and two blocks, referring to the schedule of his team between the domestic competitions and the double-action week of EuroLeague.
“We pushed through, we got a bad game a couple of days ago and we wanted to get the win and move on”, he added, mentioning the unexpected home defeat to Milan.
On the other side, Semi Ojeleye scored 22 points and Chris Jones added 15 points, but they couldn’t steal the game in the closing seconds. After this result, Valencia with a 14-17 record remained tied for the 10th spot, the last that leads to the play-ins.
Decided on details
After a close first half, Monaco got a 38-34 lead with Blossomgame already scoring 14 points.
Valencia trailed by 10 (25-15) after 10 minutes of action, however, the Spaniards reacted and even made it a two-point game (31-29).
With James picking up the pace Monaco led by eight (57-49), but Valencia once again managed to trim the lead to three (57-54) at the end of the third.
The push of the Spanish team continued and they finally got a two-point advantage (61-59) with Ojeleye making a goal foul.
However, Monaco had a 13-3 run (72-64) on the game’s final stretch and entered the last four minutes with a solid lead.
This was not the end. Valencia made a final comeback and cut the lead to two (77-75) with 5.8 seconds left. Chris Jones made one free throw and missed the second on purpose, Donta Hall got the rebound and got fouled.
He made the free throws (79-75), and Jones scored a three at the buzzer, but it was too little, too late.
“Considering the situation we have been in the past few days, this was like a final for us so it’s a great win because we were straggling physically”, added Monaco coach Sasa Obradovic.
“The game was decided on small details, I am proud of the players but we wanted to win it”, admitted Valencia coach Alex Mumbru.
Photo credit: EuroLeague