The Spanish team grabbed a second consecutive road win to topple the league leader
Dario Brizuela blasts Barca past Monaco, 84-98
FC Barcelona delivered a strong road performance to triumph 84-98 at AS Monaco, improving to 11-9 in its quest to climb the standings. Monaco dropped to 13-7 and will lose a share of first place if Olympiacos Piraeus beats FC Bayern Munich on Friday.
Barcelona controlled early on and took a double-digit lead early in the second quarter before Monaco fought back to make it 41-45 at the break. Monaco briefly led in the third but the visitor pulled away again, standing firm in the final minutes for a key win.
Dario Brizuela led the way with a career-high 27 points, Chimizie Metu added 13 points plus 8 rebounds, with Kevin Punter scoring 14, Jabari Parker providing 12 and Alex Abrines netting 11. Mike James paced Monaco with 23 points and 8 assists, while Matthew Strazel hit 4 triples in his 15 points and Georgios Papagiannis had 10 points plus 4 blocked shots.
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Justin Anderson’s jumper opened the scoring before Nick Calathes netted a putback for Monaco. Youssoupha Fall scored twice as Barca operated well inside, establishing a 5-10 lead despite a Calathes triple. Punter’s layup and Parker’s threeball gave Barca a 6-15 edge before James’s layup and Strazel’s triple made it closer. Brizuela responded from deep, but Papagiannis threw down a pair of dunks to boost the host. Elie Okobo’s layup was bettered by Metu’s three-pointer, and Metu quickly added 4 more points to make it 17-25 after ten minutes.
Brizuela’s driving layup made it a double-digit advantage, but Papagiannis and Jaron Blossomgame quickly answered with inside scores. Brizuela stayed hot with two more triples, making it 23-36. Abrines joined the three-point party and Metu scored at the rim, before Blossomgame scored twice to narrow the gap. Parker’s mid-range strike was answered by a pair of long-range strikes from James, and Vitto Brown’s jumper and Okobo free throws completed a 10-0 run to end the half, 41-45.
Two buckets from Mam Jaiteh kept Monaco moving early in the third quarter, but Fall’s layup kept Barcelona ahead, 45-49. Strazel’s three-pointer and a James free throw tied it up, before Abrines answered with a three and Punter’s long two made it 49-54. Strazel struck two more deep balls for Monaco’s first lead, but Parker and Nunez responded to make it 57-58. Brizuela and Metu pushed Barca further ahead, and Abrines tipped in on the buzzer to make it 60-66 at the end of the third.
Brizuela kept pushing Barca with another triple, and went coast-to-coast for a double-digit lead, 62-73. Calathes responded with a triple but Punter netted 5 consecutive points and soon hit another three, making it 65-83. James kept Monaco hoping from deep, Strazel made a three-point play and Papagiannis added a hook shot for an 8-0 run. Anderson’s tip-in was bettered by consecutive scores from James, pulling Monaco back to 78-85. But Brizuela continued his stellar night with another deep strike, and Parker’s inside basket protected a double-digit lead. Brizuela stepped up again, netting his sixth three-pointer and adding a layup to seal the deal.