Monaco outpaces Baskonia, 93-102

AS Monaco completed a perfect double-round week by topping Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 93-102 at Buesa Arena in Round 28 on Friday night. Monaco improved to 18-10 and grabbed its third consecutive victory, despite being without injured point guard Mike James. Baskonia dropped to 15-13 and saw its three-game home winning streak come to an end.
Jordan Loyd paced the winners with 19 points. Elie Okobo added 18, Alpha Diallo got 17 and Donta Hall had 5, while Chima Moneke posted a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds. Darius Thompson and Markus Howard led Baskonia with 20 points apiece. Vanja Marinkovic chipped in with 14 points and Maik Kotsar contributed 11 for the hosts. Thompson added 12 assists for a double-double.
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Okobo got Monaco going with a jumper, then Baskonia used a 7-0 run that Rokas Giedraitis capped with a three-pointer to get a 7-2 lead. Thompson and Marinkovic each struck twice from beyond the arc, getting help from Max Heidegger to keep Baskonia ahead, 23-18. Hall followed a four-point play with a layup, but Steven Enoch restored a 28-23 lead for Baskonia after 10 minutes.
Marinkovic got help from Kotsar to boost the hosts' lead to 37-29. Diallo had 4 points in a 0-8 run that put Monaco in charge, 40-41. Donatas Motiejunas scored down low, before Diallo and Loyd each sank a triple and Hall scored a layup to fix the halftime score at 47-52.
Baskonia used a rain of three-pointers to regain the lead. Marinkovic and Thompson each hit one, Daulton Hommes struck twice from beyond the arc, and Howard buried a big shot in transition to make Monaco call timeout at 67-64. Thompson took over with back-to-back fastbreak layups and Howard sank a jumper. Okobo answered from downtown and Hall followed a dunk with a tip-in for a 73-74 Monaco edge after 30 minutes.
After nine lead changes, Howard gave Baskonia a 91-87 advantage with under three minutes left. But, Okobo and Loyd combined for 13 points in a 2-15 run which allowed Monaco to walk away with a good-as-gold victory.