Monaco downs Valencia 90-79 to clinch playoff berth

AS Monaco became the fourth team to book their spot in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs after beating Valencia Basket 90-79 at Salle Gaston Medecin on Friday evening. The hosts used a 12-run late in the second quarter to build a 48-41 halftime advantage, and another 10-0 spurt to start the third period to open a 17-point lead that Valencia could never erase. Monaco improved to 20-10 after chaining together five wins in a row, while Valencia slipped to 14-16.
Elie Okobo and Jaron Blossomgame led five Monaco players in double figures with 14 points apiece. Okobo also added 7 assists. Matthew Strazel scored 13 points on perfect shooting from downtown (3-of-3), while John Brown provided 10 points and Donta Hall finished with a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds for a PIR of 26. Chris Jones paced Valencia with 17 points, Bojan Dubljevic contributed a double-double of 15 points and 11 boards. Josep Puerto and Jared Harper also went for 11 and 10 points respectively, in the losing effort.
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Valencia was the first team to take control of the game by making the most of its possessions, as they completed 4 three-point plays in the first five minutes to take an 8-14 lead. Monaco leaned on Hall and Blossongame to bring some energy to the paint, reducing the gap to 14-16. Claver and Jones added another couple of three-point attacks for Valencia, but an 8-0 run for the home team made it all square, 22-22, after 10 minutes.
The visitors kept producing from behind the arc to regain a short advantage, 26-30, when the game resumed, but Monaco managed to find some momentum when Strazel provided the first three of the night for the hosts. Hall and Blossongame then kept the train rolling, before Yakuba Outtara capped the run with back-to-back triples to ensure that Monaco went into the halftime break ahead by 7 points, 48-41.
Strazel was again the catalyst for Monaco after the break, feeding Motiejunas inside and drilling a couple of threes that allowed the hosts to build a 10-point run and escape, 58-41, early in the third period. A technical foul called on Valencia head coach Alex Mumbru seemed to make his team react, as Jones and Dubljevic took the reins on offense with a combined 15 points that brought the guests within 67-62. Monaco managed to stop the rally thanks to Hall and Okobo, as the hosts retained their 7-point lead entering the last stanza, 71-64.
Valencia didn’t want to stop, though, and made it even tighter when Xabi Lopez-Arostegui scored a layup to trim the deficit to 4 points, 73-69. Jordan Loyd came to the rescue with a timely three-pointer that calmed down any nerves for Monaco, as Valencia went scoreless for the next four minutes. A four-point play by Okobo returned a double-digit margin for Monaco, 80-69, soon after, and even though the visitors never gave up, the difference proved too big.