Basketball: Roca Team surrenders its leader position on the final day

Leader of the regular season for almost the entire season, Roca Team surrendered its leadership position in the Betclic Elite on the final day. In Boulazac, the Monégasques had their destiny in their hands but let their chance slip away.

Roca Team arrived at the Palio de Boulazac under considerable pressure: the provisional leader of Betclic Elite still needed to secure first place after its home debacle against Paris last weekend. The Élie Okobo situation, still mired in a salary dispute and already absent the previous week, added further uncertainty. Despite a severely depleted roster due to suspensions of Mike James, Nemanja Nedovic and Juhann Begarin, and injuries to Nikola Mirotic, Alpha Diallo and Daniel Theis, the Principality team once again relied on a mix of experienced players.

In a context where every victory counts to secure the top of the standings, Roca Team, even weakened, arrived in Dordogne determined to impose its seriousness and conclude its regular season with authority. To do so, coach Sergii Gladyr entrusted Kyllian Michée, Yssam Moungalla, Terry Tarpey, Yoan Makoundou and Kevarrius Hayes to start the match against a Boulazac team that had nothing left to play for.

Roca Team started the match well with Terry Tarpey’s three-pointer. Boulazac was very strong in the paint, with an impressive number of offensive rebounds, which allowed the home team to stay in the game and even take the lead in the second quarter. The Monégasques would be disappointed afterwards. In a difficult position, the Principality’s players were saved by young Kyllian Michée, who scored 13 points in fifteen minutes. Despite this fine performance, it was Boulazac that set the pace despite considerable offensive turnovers. The Périgord team pulled away to conclude the first half with an eleven-point lead (49-38).

Roca Team leaves its destiny in Paris’s hands

The start of the third quarter offered little optimism for Roca Team. Facing a very beatable team, Monaco showed nothing and left its destiny in Paris’s hands, who were also struggling against ASVEL in a much more interesting match.

In the final quarter, there was no hope of seeing Roca Team make a comeback. Down by 17 points, only the performance of young Kyllian Michée (21 points, four rebounds, five assists) provided something positive from this match in which the stars present showed little desire to perform well. Yoan Makoundou (15 points, three rebounds, two assists) also stood out late in the game, even though there was no longer any stakes.

Roca Team logically lost (92-74). A second consecutive defeat in Betclic Elite which would ultimately cost the Monégasques first place in the standings, in favor of Paris, who managed at the same time to turn things around on their home court against ASVEL (87-76).

AS Monaco Basketball will face the winner of the play-in between Strasbourg and Bourg-en-Bresse in the playoffs. It will be time for a wake-up call on the Monégasque side to avoid falling hard in this very complicated end of season with early elimination in the Euroleague as well. Let’s hope that the return of certain players will offer more encouraging prospects.