The Battles of the Basque Country won this Friday its third consecutive victory in the regular phase of the Euroleague after beating the AS Monaco (78-66) thanks to an outstanding third quarter, which makes the people of Vitoria get fully into the fight for the positions of play-off on the fifth day.
Those of Dusko Ivanovic They did not break the scoreboard until the third round, where they achieved a 17-2 run that knocked the Monegasque team down. Simone Fontecchio (20 points and 30 valuation) was once again the great scoring reference of the Vitoria team, which also featured an excellent version of Jayson Granger (12 and 19), exquisite in the care facet with six deliveries.
On the italian side Mike James, who was returning to what was his home, did not have the expected relevance. The American was far from his level at the Buesa Arena – even so he scored 18 points – and did not stick his head out until the final moments, when the game had become extremely difficult for the visitors.
The night started with the expected equality and the advantages of Baskonia were never important and always moved between three and five points. From 12-9 from the beginning to 26-21, but with Monaco relatively close. The balance did not settle for anyone until the third set.
It was then when Baskonia, with a clear improvement in defense, began to increase their figures in attack led by Fontecchio. The 60-42 crushed the pupils of Zvezdan Mitrovic. However, the Vitorians still had to go through some trouble in the last quarter.
AS Monaco gritted its teeth and Andjusic, with a pair of triples, he was cutting the advantage. A short circuit from Baskonia gave life to his rival, who reached 6 after losing almost 20 units. The 66-60 alerted the Baskonians, who stepped on the accelerator to the bottom not to miss the victory thanks to the final contribution of Nnoko.
Baskonia, who started with two defeats, has turned the situation around and that’s it 3-2, while Monaco – who started two victories – have gone the other way with their third consecutive defeat.
Datasheet:
78 – Battles of the Basque Country (21 + 17 + 22 + 18): Granger (12), Giedraitis (10), Fontecchio (20), Costello (-) and Nnoko (14) -starting five-, Baldwin (6), Marinkovic (-), Enoch (12), Sedekerskis (2) and Kurucs (2).
66 – AS Monaco (20+15+11+20): Westermann (-), James (18), Ouattara (5), Boutsiele (11) and Motiejunas (10) -starting five-, Lee (2), Thomas (2), Diallo (3), Faye (-), Gray (-), Andjusic (15) and Hall (-).
Referees: Matej Boltauzer (Slovenia), Milivoje Jovcic (Serbia) and Robert Vyklicky (Czechia). They eliminated the local Baldwin for personal fouls (min. 40).
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