By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The final score was 87-65 as Monaco booked a place on Sunday’s final thanks to Elmedin Kikanovic’s crescendo. The 30 years old Bosnian forward led the charge with 19 points making seven out of seven field goals, while also grabbing seven rebounds.
Four more players of the winners, Chris Evans (17 p.), Gerald Robinson (16 p.), Sergii Gladyr (12 p.) and Amary Sy (10 p.) scored in double digits, while their team dominated the fourth quarter with a 26-11 partial score.
Despite a bad start for Monaco and a 20-11 lead at the first quarter for MHP Riesen, the players of coach Mitrovic picked up the pace of the game and tied the score at 28 after six minutes of play in the second period. With Adika Peter-McNeilly beating the buzzer, MHP Riesen managed to close the first half leading by two points (38-36).
MHP Riesen tried to slow things down and to an extent, they succeed, but only during the first 10 minutes of the game. Monaco’s size and quality made the difference with Amara Sy giving the lead to his team (47-44) at the 25th minute. The third period ended with the French side leading by six (61-54) after a three by Kikanovic and the fourth started with one more three by Gladyr who gave to Monaco for the first time a double-digit lead (64-54). The Germans couldn’t keep up after that.
Kerron Johnson scored 12 points for MHP Riesen which was simply overmatched in the second half.