By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Against one of the hottest EuroLeague teams, Real Madrid got a home triumph by 22 points by beating Monaco 94-72.
Dzanan Musa with a season-high of 22 points was the top scorer of the winning side, however, Facundo Campazzo once more with 12 points and four assists set the tone early and made things happen.
“Even if the standings don’t say so, I think we are still one of the top-3 teams in the league, we got to keep working, it’s not easy, but I still think that we can reach the Final Four”, said Musa after the game, as Real Madrid also beat Paris earlier this week.
Mario Hezonja added 13 points and Gabriel Deck had 12.
Mike James with 19 points and eight assists tried his best for Monaco, which contrary to optimistic prediction, still missed Nick Calathes this week.
Thanks to this result, Real Madrid got an 8-9 record, while Monaco remains on top at the moment but dropped to 11-6 and teams like Olympiacos, Zalgiris, Bayern, and Fenerbahce can catch them.
A show by Madrid
Madrid started the game on the driver’s seat leading 23-14 and building an 11-point cushion (29-18).
At the end of the first period, the score was 29-22, but the hosts after just two minutes pushed their lead to 18 points (41-23) with a 12-1 run.
Monaco reacted with their own 8-0 run made a 10-point game (44-34), still Real Madrid wasn’t rattled and thanks to a three by Gabriel Deck closed the first half leading by 18 again (53-35).
The Argentinian forward had 10 points in the first half for the hosts, while Mike James also had 10 and six assists on the other side.
The lead jumped to 21 points (56-35) with a goal foul by Campazzo and suddenly Monaco seemed totally out of synch on both ends of the floor.
Madrid closed the third period up by 30 (77-47) and the game was over, even if Monaco opened up the last period with an 11-2 run (79-58).