ALBA Berlin got back to winning ways by downing AS Monaco 92-84 on Wednesday night in the German capital. ALBA snapped its three-game losing streak and pushed its record to 6-11, the same as Monaco which has now lost seven of its last eight games. ALBA used a strong finish to the second quarter to take a 40-30 lead into halftime and controlled the game in the second half before withstanding a fourth-quarter run from Monaco.
Sikma, Lammers lift ALBA over Monaco, 92-84
Ben Lammers paced the hosts with 18 points and Marcus Eriksson netted 15, Maodo Lo 12, Jaleen Smith 10 and Luke Sikma returned from injury to post 8 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. Mike James had 25 points and 8 assists for Monaco and Donatas Motiejunas scored 14 of his 23 points in the first quarter. Alpha Diallo added 11 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists and Paris Lee scored 10 in defeat.
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Monaco scored the first 8 points of the game, including back-to-back triples from Motiejunas and Ouattara. Lammers with a jumper and Eriksson with a triple got ALBA going, but a three-point play from Motiejunas made it 9-15. Johannes Thiemann and Eriksson hit back-to-back threes to tie it. Motiejunas scored twice more inside to get his tally to 14 points and give Monaco a 17-19 lead. ALBA finished the first quarter in front 23-21 after a short jumper from Oscar da Silva and a fastbreak layup from Louis Olinde.
Ouattara had a three-point play and Donta Hall scored inside for Monaco early in the second, but Lammers dunked and Jaleen Smith nailed a three-pointer to make it 32-26. The visitors were held without a basket for almost 3 minutes before James snapped a 0-7 run, but a triple from Lo opened a 35-28 lead and a last-second long-range shot from Lammers to end the first half made it 40-30 at the break.
Dwayne Bacon scored from long range and Motiejunas from close range, but Lammers scored 7 points, including a dunk-plus-foul for a 49-37 advantage. James had a pair of jumpers and Motiejunas a pair of layups as the visitors closed within 51-46. da Silva and James traded three-point plays before Eriksson banked a jumper and nailed a 9-meter triple to lead 63-51. Diallo snapped a 7-0 run with a three-pointer, but jumpers from Tamir Blatt and Smith increased the margin to 69-56 after 30 minutes.
Paris Lee and Smith traded triples to open the fourth quarter and Lee added 5 more points, including another triple. Olinde's dunk snapped a 0-9 run, but Lee took it to the rim and James made a floater to get Monaco within 76-74. After Zoosman and Diallo exchanged three-pointers, Lo scored 5 points - a driving layup and a layup-plus-foul - to open an 86-78 lead with 2 minutes to go. James gave hope to the visitors' with a three-pointer, but ALBA closed the game out.