


AS Monaco retained its share of first place while sending Olympiacos Piraues down from the same perch with a come-from-behind 64-60 home win on Tuesday. The hosts fell behind 10-24 after 13 minutes but surged from there to lead 52-45 early in the fourth quarter and hold on for the victory. Monaco improved to 12-6 while Olympiacos fell to 11-7. Monaco swept their season series, 2-0.
Mike James hit all 4 of his three-pointers to spark the second-quarter turnaround and finished with a team-high 19 points. Alpha Diallo added 16 and Yoan Makoundou, in his first real Turkish Airlines EuroLeague minutes, added 9 points and 6 rebounds. Olympiacos got 12 points from Alec Peters and 10 from Kostas Sloukas but otherwise couldn't make good on a dream start.
Kostas Papanikolaou nailed a triple then stole and slammed during a 7-0 run after tipoff to a 2-9 lead to force a Monaco timeout. Papanikolaou kept it going to 4-13 with a backdoor layup then Moustapha Fall took the baton as Monaco couldn't find a clean shot and Olympiacos zoomed in front 8-20 after one quarter. That lead reached 10-24 before James came alive with 3 triples in the span of a minute, and when Elie Okobo joined him, it was 22-31. Peters answered with a pair of his own but Monaco kept it going until James downed a tough layup to bring the hosts within 31-34 at the break.
Makoundou tied it up right after halftime and Yakubu Ouattar's corner triple gave Monaco the lead, 37-34. The hosts would not trail again as Diallo came alive with 4 points on the way to Monaco's 46-42 lead after 30 minutes. Diallo's four-point play supplied Monaco's high lead of 52-45 early in the fourth, but Peters stayed hot and eventually Sloukas tied it up 53-53 on free throws with 3:24 to play. Diallo and Makoundou hit back-to-back triples then but Peters and Shaquielle McKissic matched them for a 59-59 tie that held into the final minute. James hit a floater and the Monaco defense did the rest to retain the victory and the team's spot among the teams tied for first place.