Zalgiris Kaunas (14-17) lost a crucial EuroLeague game after overtime. Andrea Trinchieri’s team lost 86-96 (23-15, 25-29, 17-14, 15-22, 6-16) to AS Monaco (19-12) on the road.
Mike James led all scorers with 22 points, Elie Okobo followed with 21, Daniel Theis posted 16 points and 9 rebounds, and Jared Blossongame finished with 15 points and 10 boards.
Sylvain Francisco paced Zalgiris with 19 points but missed the winning shot in regulation. Ignas Brazdeikis netted 17 and collected 7 rebounds, while Alen Smailagic chipped in 15 and Isaiah Wong 10 in the losing effort.
With only one three-pointer for each team in the first 3 minutes, the game started with strong defenses that prevailed over offenses. Brazdeikis opened fire for the visitors with 5 straight points and Francisco and Smailagic followed to put Zalgiris ahead, 9-7. Despite losing Laurynas Birutis early because of his third foul and watching Monaco come back, 10-11, Zalgiris remained strong and punished the hosts with a 11-0 run in which Brazdeikis chipped in 5 more points, to escape to 21-11 and finish the first quarter ahead 23-15.
With Wong running the offense, Zalgiris overcame a first Monaco attempt to rally. A technical foul on James, which turned into his third foul and forced him to the bench, preceded a three-pointer and a slam by Smailagic that made things look even better for the Lithuanian champs, 34-21. The hosts’ timeout didn’t work, as Wong and Smailagic kept producing and Francisco showed up with his first three to dig it deeper, 42-27. A 7-0 run led by Theis stopped the bleeding, while back-to-back daggers from downtown by Matthew Strazel and Alpha Diallo capped a 13-4 spark that made it close, 46-06. A buzzer-beating jumper by Okobo brought Monaco within 48-44 at halftime.
Arnas Butkevicius set a 51-46 edge from behind the arc after the game resumed, but those were the only Zalgiris points in more than 3 minutes. Monaco managed to complete the rally and tie things up, 51-51, when Okobo hit his second three of the night. The visitors stopped the game and changed four players, who delivered rapidly. Smailagic came first with 5 straight points to wake Zalgiris up, 59-54, as Theis and Birutis collected their fourth fouls almost immediately. A three-point play by Francisco and a late three by Deividas Sirvydis were like water for the thirsty, enabling the visitors to finish the third quarter with a 65-58 edge.
Mam Jaiteh took over for Monaco early in the last quarter, going for 7 points in a row that got the home team within 67-65, as Birutis fouled out. Zalgiris didn’t tremble, though, and used the free-throw line to keep scoring and earn a 72-65 advantage with 6 minutes remaining. Diallo was the next one to foul out, as Theis and James made it a one-possession game from the line soon after, with the latter hitting a mid-range jumper to tie it, 73-73, entering crunch-time. Edgaras Ulanovas made the most from consecutive offensive rebounds and nailed a three to cool down Monaco, 76-73, but James remained red-hot and tied it again with 5 more points, including a huge three to tie it at 78-78 with 39 seconds to go. Butkevicius gave Zalgiris its last bucket, but Theis sent the game to overtime because of an offensive foul called after the Butkevicius shot.
James continued pulling the strings for Monaco in the extra session as he opened fire with a bucket and followed with 3 free throws after drawing a foul on Dunston to boost the hosts to an 80-85 lead. That was too much for an exhausted Zalgiris, which saw how Okobo extended it to 83-90 soon after. Despite Francisco hitting from downtown, Monaco felt completely in charge and just needed another bucket from Okobo to seal the win.
