


AS Monaco put itself in position to clinch home-court advantage in the playoffs but turning back host FC Bayern with an 81-84 victory on Friday. Monaco took the last of 13 lead changes midway through the final quarter and withstood another comeback try by Bayern to raise its record to 21-11. Already-eliminated Bayern fell to 11-21.
Mike James led the winners with 28 points, tying his season high in his second game back after a team suspension. Jordan Loyd added 14 points, with his 9-for-9 free-free throw shooting proving key late in the game. Bayern got 20 points from Vladimir Lucic, including 2 three-pointers in the final minute to keep it close, while Corey Walden added 18 and Zylan Cheatham 10.
James shot Monaco to an early 2-7 lead until Andreas Obst and Niels Giffey drilled triples to get Bayern going. Elie Okobo came on to help Monaco stay in front but it took a second three-pointer from James to keep the guests ahead by the minimum, 22-23, after 10 minutes. Bayern followed D.J. Seeley and Freddie Gillespie on a 10-0 run to go ahead 30-23 early in the second quarter. Monaco answered with a 2-10 takeover run as James hit again from deep. Donta Hall and Alpha Diallo detonated dunks to take Monaco to a 40-45 halftime advantage.
Walden kept Bayern close after the break and Lucic joined him to cut the difference to 52-53. Nick Weiler-Babb blocked James, sending Isaac Bonga for a go-ahead dunk, but Loyd and Hall flipped the scoreboard again for Monaco before Lucic and Cheatham combined to send Bayern up 60-57 after 30 minutes and 12 lead changes. James tied it on the first shot of the fourth quarter and John Brown did the dirty work in a 10-0 Monaco run to take a 68-75 advantage with 3 minutes left. Bonga's three-point play the hard way and 2 triples in in 14 seconds by Lucic suddenly made it 81-84 with 28 seconds left. Bayern chose not to foul and Monaco missed, leaving 3.9 seconds for a game-tying attempt, but Walden's triple was short and Monaco avoided overtime as it waited to find out later on Friday if it had clinched home-court advantage yet.