Guards Mike James and Elie Okobo combined for 34 points to pace the winners
Monaco fights to edge Maccabi, 85-79

AS Monaco edging visiting Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 85-79 in the Round 2 opener on Wednesday to improve to 2-0 after two home games. The loss dropped Maccabi to 1-1 on the young season. The visitors had control in the first half and led 23-33 in the second quarter, but the hosts halved that deficit before halftime. In the third quarter, a 19-6 spurt fueled by Donatas Motiejunas put Monaco up for good.
Mike James led the winners with 17 points and 6 assists, while Elie Okobo scored all of his 17 points in the second half. Motiejunas scored 9 of his 11 points in a key third-quarter run and Georgios Papagiannis collected 10 points and 7 rebounds. Jordan Loyd paced Maccabi with 16 points and Jaylen Hoard had 13 points and 7 rebounds. Jasiel Rivero also scored 13, Levi Randolph had 10 and Tamir Blatt dished 10 assists in defeat.
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Monaco's protagonists in the early going were Mam Jaiteh and Matthew Strazel, but Blatt dished 4 assists for, mostly, easy buckets for Maccabi, including a fastbreak dunk for Hoard and a 9-14 lead. James netted back-to-back triples and a pair of baskets inside from Georgios Papagiannis made it 19-15. But after that Monaco 10-1 run, Maccabi had a strong finish to the quarter with Rokas Jokubaitis sinking a pair of jumpers to give the visitors 21-23 lead after 10 minutes.
Roman Sorkin opened the second quarter with a three and Jokubaitis had a runner to make it 21-28. A transition three-pointer from Loyd opened a 23-33 margin with 6:39 left in the half. But then James started pulling all the Monaco strings: he sank a triple and then set up Jaiteh and Motiejunas for layups. Strazel and Blatt traded threes before two more baskets from James cut the deficit to 37-40. However, Loyd and Jokubaitis made sure the visitors kept a 41-46 lead at halftime.
Maccabi opened the second half with a big dunk from Hoard, but Motiejunas got Monaco going, scoring 9 points in a 10-2 run - including a corner triple - and giving Monaco a 53-52 lead. A jumper from Okobo and a triple from Blossomgame opened 60-54 advantage. Maccabi stopped the bleeding through Rivero from close range and John DiBartolomeo from long range, but Okobo's three-pointer made it 65-60 after three quarters.
A jumper from Okobo and a triple from Blossomgame gave the hosts their first double-digit lead of the night, 70-60, early in the fourth. Maccabi quickly halved the deficit behind Blatt, and got within 72-69 after Blatt fed Rivero for a layup. Okobo kept Monaco in front, but Loyd and Rivero kept getting Maccabi within 3 points, with Rivero making a shot-clock beating tip from 3 meters away. But Okobo's three put Monaco up 83-77 in the penultimate minute and the hosts prevailed for their second win of the season.