After an initial defeat on Wednesday in Athens (71-54) at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, AS Monaco clinches a fantastic victory (72-96) to stay in the race for the EuroLeague Final Four.
This Friday, the team from Monaco managed a decisive win against Olympiakos Piraeus in the EuroLeague quarterfinals.
Despite the first quarter being won by the Greek team (16-10), led by the Bulgarian-Greek-Cypriot player Sasha Vezenkov, who scored 4 points and made 3 steals in this period, AS Monaco managed to take control with a completely dominated second quarter (12-30 in this quarter in favor of AS Monaco). This was made possible notably by American forward Dwayne Bacon, who scored 6 points and made 2 steals in this segment.
The Monegasque team managed to maintain this advantage throughout the match by winning the third (23-29) and the fourth quarters (21-27), thanks in part to excellent shooting accuracy in two-point shots (65.6%) and three-point shots (50%), along with solid defense (10 steals). American point guard Mike James (named Player of the Match) and Serbian shooting guard Danilo Andjusic also played vital roles in AS Monaco’s victory by scoring 23 (including 21 in the second half) and 19 points, respectively, in this match.
Thanks to this victory, AS Monaco ties the series against Olympiakos Piraeus (1-1). The first of the two teams to win 3 games will qualify for the EuroLeague Final Four, which will take place in Belgrade, at the Stark Arena, from Thursday, May 19th to Saturday, May 21st. To achieve this, the Monaco team will need to secure victories at home, in the Gaston Médecin Hall, on April 27th and 29th.
