2020-21Top 16Round 4
AS Monaco 97
Joventut Badalona 82
February 02, 2021 CET: 19:00
Local time: 19:00 STADE LOUIS II

Monaco atop Group E after beating Joventut

AS Monaco dominated the second half en route to a 97-82 victory over Joventut Badalona on Tuesday at Stade Louis II to move atop Group E. After leading by a single point at halftime, Monaco used a 14-2 third-quarter run to take control for good. Rob Gray led the winners with 23 points, J.J. O'Brien scored 21, Dee Bost recorded his first career double-double with 17 points and 11 assists and Marcos Knight added 16 points. Nenad Dimitrijevic paced Joventut in defeat with 15 points and Joel Parra netted 14. Conor Morgan scored 11 and Xabi Lopez-Arostegui and Ante Tomic had 10 each. The result left both teams with 3-1 records in the Top 16, but Monaco's 15-point victory gave it first place and the -head-to-head tiebreaker since Joventut won their previous encounter by just 7. Joventut, which had won six in a row, would have clinched a quarterfinals berth with a win.

Joventut won the opening tip and went ahead with a Lopez-Arostegui triple on the game's first possession. Tomic racked up a pair of assists and a baby hook before Ferran Bassas capped a 0-10 start with a three-pointer. O'Brien's basket-plus-foul got Monaco on the scoreboard and Knight helped the hosts further narrow the deficit to 10-14 midway through the first quarter. Gray came off the bench and scored 7 quick points to complete the comeback and send Monaco ahead for the first time. A three by O'Brien capped a 14-0 run that put the hosts up 7. Simon Birgander's layup stopped the bleeding for Joventut and Lopez-Arostegui free throws completed a 0-7 run for a 22-23 lead after 10 minutes. The lead changed hands with each of the first two baskets of the second quarter. Morgan knocked down a pair of threes for Joventut, but Monaco stayed close and a three by Bost made it 34-35 midway through the second quarter. Rudy Demahis knocked down a three from the corner to tie the game at 39-39. Monaco could not solve Parra, who had a career-high 12 points in the first half, but Gray was even hotter with a three and a layup to nudge his team ahead and the score settled at 46-45 at the break.

Joventut committed 5 turnovers on its first six possessions of the second half as Monaco extended the lead to 55-48 on a three by Abdoulaye Ndoye. Gray capped a 14-2 run that stretched the margin to 62-50 with his fourth-three-pointer of the game. Joventut went inside to Vladimir Brodziansky, who scored on consecutive possessions to trim the deficit. O'Brien free throws restored the 12-point difference and it stood at 68-58 through three quarters. Morgan and Bost traded triples to start the fourth quarter. A Brodziansky slam and layups by Dimitrijevic and Parra drew the visitors within 71-67 and prompted a Monaco timeout. Monaco rose to the challenge through Gray and Knight to restore a double-digit lead with 6 minutes remaining. Bost added another three and Tomic fouled out – after being called for a technical foul. Gray raised the difference to 84-70 and Joventut never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.

Game-deciding run

After trailing by as many as 12, Joventut battled back to within 4 early in the fourth quarter. However, after a timeout, Rob Gray scored a layup and Marcos Knight added a pair of quick baskets to restore a double-digit lead and the visitors never threatened again.

Stellar statistics

Joventut enjoyed the superior shooting night, but Monaco more than made up for that with defense and rebounding. The hosts turned their opponents 16 turnovers into 23 points and grabbed 14 offensive rebounds, which became 14 second-chance points. Joventut had only 1 second-chance point from 5 offensive boards.

New Monaco marks

Monaco logged some new entries into the club record book. Its point total of 97 was the most ever for the club, eclipsing its 96 from earlier this season against Telenet Giants Antwerp. It also set a club record with 23 assists, which was 1 more than its previous best against Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade in November 2018. Dee Bost set the club mark for assists with 11, bettering his 9 against Antwerp in October. His career-high PIR of 32 also tied a Monaco record that Mathias Lessort set two weeks earlier.

What's next?

The two teams will have to wait a month to resume their pursuit of a quarterfinals berth. In Round 5 of the Top 16 on Tuesday, March 2, Monaco will host Nanterre 92, while Joventut takes on Unicaja Malaga.

Rob Gray - AS Monaco (photo Monaco) - EC20
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: HORDOV, TOMISLAV ; FOUFIS, IOANNIS; CLIVAZ, SEBASTIEN
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
AS Monaco22242229
Joventut Badalona23221324
End of Quarter1234
AS Monaco22466897
Joventut Badalona23455882
AS Monaco
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 BOST, DEE 34:19 17 2/2 3/12 4/6 2 2 4 11 1 1       11 32
3 DEMAHIS, RUDY 3:29 3   1/2                   2    
7 INGLIS, DAMIEN 11:28 3 1/3   1/2   1 1 1           1 3
9 KNIGHT, MARCOS 24:12 16 5/11 0/2 6/7 2 4 6 1 2     1 3 4 16
11 NDOYE, ABDOULAYE 27:53 5 1/1 1/1     1 1 6 2 1 2   2 1 14
12 KELIKI, KEVIN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 RATTON, JORDAN 0:02                              
15 YEGUETE, WILFRIED 10:59   0/2     3   3 1 1       4 1  
22 O'BRIEN, JALEEL 33:47 21 3/8 3/4 6/8 2 1 3 1 1 1 1   3 6 21
26 LESSORT, MATHIAS 23:21 9 4/5   1/4 3 3 6       2   3 4 14
32 GRAY, ROB 25:32 23 5/6 4/6 1/1   1 1 2 1 2     4   18
91 CISSOKO, BOUKHARY 4:58     0/2     1 1           1   -2
Team           2 3 5               5
Totals 200:00 97 21/38 12/29 19/28 14 17 31 23 8 5 5 1 22 28 121
        55.3% 41.4% 67.9%
Head coach: MITROVIC, ZVEZDAN
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Joventut Badalona
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 DIMITRIJEVIC, NENAD 26:34 15 3/7 1/1 6/7 2 2 4 4 1 4   1 4 4 14
4 RIBAS, PAU 24:32 5 1/5 0/1 3/3   2 2 5 1 2     4 2 4
6 LOPEZ-AROSTEGUI, XABI 28:28 10 2/3 1/2 3/3   2 2     2     4 4 8
9 MORGAN, CONOR 25:51 11 1/1 3/3     5 5 1   1     4 1 13
10 BRODZIANSKY, VLADIMIR 22:46 8 4/7 0/1   1 3 4         3 3 3 5
13 PARRADO, ARNAU DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 BASSAS, FERRAN 16:53 3 0/1 1/3   1 2 3 4   1     2 2 6
32 ZAGARS, ARTURS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
35 BIRGANDER, SIMON 15:23 6 3/4   0/1   1 1 1   1     2 1 4
44 PARRA, JOEL 25:03 14 5/7   4/4 1 1 2 2     1 1 1 2 17
88 TOMIC, ANTE 14:30 10 5/5       2 2 4   5     5 1 7
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 82 24/40 6/11 16/18 5 21 26 21 2 16 1 5 29 20 79
        60% 54.5% 88.9%
Head coach: DURAN, CARLES

Head Coaches

MITROVIC, ZVEZDAN
AS Monaco

"This was a really good game for us. A great result first of all and I want to congratulate all of my players and everybody."

"A lot of points, a high result, but I think they are not because of bad defense, I think both teams tried to play good defense. They played both ways, offense and defense, Joventut and us, the same. We had a short roster and I want to thank the young guys. They played some minutes, they didn't do anything wrong. I think 5 minutes [each], but it was important for the team for the rotation. And I think for their future experience, it will be very important."

DURAN, CARLES
Joventut Badalona
"Congratulations to Monaco. They played better than us today. I think we started very well in the first quarter. But the turnovers and the rebounds [allowed] Monaco tied the game. The third quarter is the worst quarter for us. Monaco played very, very aggressive on offense and defense. And in the last quarter, the team tried to tie the game, but after the timeout, Monaco… I don’t know if played better than us, but played more aggressive than us and won."

Players

BOST, DEE
AS Monaco
"We knew what we had to do coming into the game, me especially. I played a terrible game, one of the worst of my career there [in Badalona], and I knew in order for us to win I had to be more aggressive and 20 times better. Tonight, as a team, we got it done."
DIMITRIJEVIC, NENAD
Joventut Badalona
"We know they are a physical team, they play very solid defense. Especially when they play at home, they're a very tough team to beat. So seeing how they pressed us more, they started switching and we didn’t move the ball as we usually do. It is what it is. It was a tough game, but we'll bounce back."