Monaco vs Fenerbahçe: Euroleague Collapse & Result

Monaco, which remained on three victories in the Euroleague, was stopped cold Friday evening by Fenerbahçe (86-92), reigning European champion, at the end of an intense meeting and a nightmarish last quarter.

The Principality club won the first three quarters (21-14, 25-24, 23-22), led by 17 points (67-50, 28th) before exploding in the last ten minutes. Vassilis Spanoulis’ men then lost their defensive principles and the Turks, with a great Talen Horton Tucker (24 points), took advantage.

If Fenerbahçe, who undoubtedly dominated the last quarter (32-17) achieves a sixth consecutive victory in the competition, Monaco, with nine victories and six defeats, falls into line and will have to relaunch next Wednesday in Vitoria, where Mike James and his partners will challenge the Basques of Baskonia.

The first quarter was a real trench war between two teams who did not want to let the opponent breathe. We had to wait 2 minutes 17 and five possessions on each side to see the first basket of the match by Fener’s American, Horton Tucker (3rd).

We then had to wait more than a minute for the Roca Team, mistreated, to manage to unlock their counter thanks to two free throws from Daniel Theis (2-2, 4th).

The fight was tough. And Monaco went in front following two long-distance baskets, in quick succession, from Nikola Mirotic and Mike James (16-10, 9th). A specialist in this type of mission, Mirotic obtained and converted three free throws at the buzzer, for the biggest gap of the match (21-14).

At the start of the second quarter, Monaco held up defensively against the European benchmark at the start of the season in this area. With a strong Kevarrius Hayes in the racket, Spanoulis’ men created a nice mattress (30-17, 13th).

But Fener is not champion for nothing. With its pivot Khem Birch, the Istanbul team made a nice run (14 pts to 5) to get back to four points (35-31, 17th). Despite this, Monaco, in the lead, won this second quarter (25-24) to easily take the lead at the break (46-38).

Monaco, which led by 17 points (67-50, 28th) with Alpha Diallo in great form, again won the third quarter by one unit to start the home stretch with a nine-length lead (69-60). But the Monegasque team then collapsed, losing 32-17 in the last quarter and squandering a treasure trove of hard-won points.