The hosts engineered an early 20-point lead and were in cruise control for the rest of the contest
Smooth Monaco makes light work of ALBA, 100-80
AS Monaco breezed to a 100-80 home win over ALBA Berlin in Round 14 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and improved to 9-5, while the visitors dropped to 3-11 after a lop-sided contest in the principality.
All 12 Monaco players netted, with Vitto Brown leading the charge on 17 points. Georgios Papagiannis added 12, while Elie Okobo and Matthew Strazel chipped in with 10 each.
At the other end. David McCormack and Yanni Wetzell bagged 16 points apiece and Matteo Spagnolo added 10 for the visitors, who were unable to complete a perfect double week after Wednesday’s 88-90 overtime win at Virtus Segafredo Bologna.
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ALBA scored the opening 2 points of the game but that was as good as it got for the German outfit, as Monaco took no time to hit top gear and raced into a 24-14 lead. It soared to 34-18 at the end of the first quarter and then 40-20 early in the second, with ALBA unable to keep up with the home team’s torrid pace.
Monaco shared the ball superbly, having dished out 13 team assists by halftime as the hosts also racked up 18 rebounds in the opening 20 minutes, 6 of them on offense. In contrast, ALBA committed 10 turnovers and trailed 55-37 at the interval, with the score in no way flattering Monaco.
Having cruised through the third quarter, Monaco put its foot on the gas again in the fourth, galvanized by one of the blocks of the season when Jordan Lloyd denied Spagnolo with a stunning rejection. The home side pulled 92-67 clear in the closing stages and went through the motions in the final few minutes, as ALBA limited the damage with several late three-pointers.
It was a second victory in three outings for Monaco’s new coach Vassilis Spanoulis, who will welcome a return to winning ways after Wednesday’s 80-89 home loss to former club Olympiacos Piraeus, where he won two of his three EuroLeague titles as a player.