The Roca Team falls 78 to 76 against Partizan Belgrade, away. The poor third quarter of the Monegasques proved very costly.
A week with a Serbian accent for the Roca Team! AS Monaco Basket is traveling to the court of Partizan Belgrade this Tuesday evening in the EuroLeague, before facing Red Star on Thursday evening. Vassilis Spanoulis’s men are on a superb streak, with six consecutive victories, the latest this Sunday against Saint-Quentin.
The best way to start this perilous series in fiery atmospheres. The Belgrade Arena is ready and sets the tone from the first seconds of this clash. A packed hall that resembles a volcano in eruption.
A strong Serbian start, but the Roca Team holds on
The Partizan Belgrade players start this match extremely strongly. Zeljko Obradovic’s men shake the Roca Team from the get-go. The Principality club suffers and is under pressure from this fiery crowd. Vassilis Spanoulis’s players quickly find themselves more than ten points behind their opponent of the evening (4-15).
German Duane Washington is unstoppable and poses many problems for AS Monaco Basket. He scored 11 points in less than five minutes. Facing this delicate start, the Rock club reacts and quickly catches up, tying the score (18-17). Led once again by a confident Mike James, the Roca Team finishes these first ten minutes ahead on the scoreboard (20-19).
Lots of waste in the second quarter
The technical level dropped in this second act. Both teams put a great deal of intensity into the first quarter. An intensity that disappears as the minutes pass. The players on the court are imprecise. In total, only nine baskets are scored during these ten minutes (five for Belgrade and four for Monaco).
Logically, it is a low-scoring quarter, with a 17 to 12 for Partizan. The Roca Team therefore heads to the locker room trailing by four points. There are shooting errors, but also in passing, with 13 turnovers. One thing is certain, this second quarter will not go down in the EuroLeague annals!
An extremely delicate return from the locker room
If at the end of the first half the Belgrade Arena fell silent, it wakes up to start this second half. The players of Vassilis Spanoulis suffer again and are under pressure from the Serbian crowd. On the opposite side, their opponents transform and string together baskets.
Partizan Belgrade lands seven three-pointers against the Monegasques. A game sector where Mike James’s teammates remain silent in six attempts, in this third quarter. That long-distance shooting success allows the Serbian capital club to widen the gap, ten minutes from the end of this match (49-64).
A fiery end to the match
The Roca Team needs to make up a fifteen-point deficit in this last quarter. It starts badly, with a deficit reaching 20 points, but, little by little, AS Monaco Basket gets back into the game. The Monegasques catch up their deficit in one go and equalize (74-74).
But this comeback won’t be enough! The Partizan Belgrade players, spurred on by their superb crowd, win this clash 78 to 76. A match end that will be marked by a very good Terry Tarpey, on the Monegasque side. An end to the winning streak for the Monegasques, who have less than 48 hours to bounce back.
The week continues on Serbian soil for the Roca Team. A second clash awaits Matthew Strazel’s teammates, Thursday night against Red Star Belgrade. The week will end in Betclic Elite, Sunday, again away, in Le Mans, for the 8th day of the championship.
