2018-19Top 16Round 1
ALBA Berlin 83
AS Monaco 74
January 03, 2019 CET: 18:30
Local time: 18:30 MERCEDES-BENZ ARENA

ALBA opens Top 16 with victory over Monaco

ALBA Berlin protected its home court in the opening round of the Top 16 by downing visiting AS Monaco 83-74 in a Group E clash in the German capital on Thursday night. ALBA pulled away to a double-digit margin in the third quarter and then stopped Monaco's attempt to rally in the fourth. Luke Sikma paced the winners with 17 points and 5 assists and Tim Schneider netted 16 points on 4-for-4 three-point shooting. The visitors shot just 2 for 20 from three-point range with both triples coming in the fourth quarter. Former ALBA center Elmedin Kikanovic led Monaco with 26 points and 8 rebounds, while Paul Lacombe collected 20 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists in defeat.

Landry Nnoko got the hosts going with 6 early points on one end and 2 blocks on the other. Kikanovic and Jarrod Jones each scored twice and Lacombe had a three-point play to put Monaco up 11-14. Schneider's first triple, however, helped ALBA to an 18-15 edge after 10 minutes. Schneider hit his second three in the opening minute of the second before Niels Giffey's jumper made it 25-17. Kikanovic and Lacombe cut into the deficit and Eric Buckner also scored inside for Monaco, but ALBA kept the lead through Giffey and Sikma, with the latter's triple making it 32-26. The teams kept trading close-range baskets and Kikanovic scored 6 more points for the visitors, but ALBA took a 44-38 margin into halftime. ALBA needed a little time in the second half to extend the margin to double digits, with Sikma fighting for a three-point play and knocking down a triple to make it 54-42. Kikanovic strung together 8 points to keep Monaco in range, but Schneider nailed another three-pointer to open the largest margin of the night, 63-50. The hosts took a 65-53 advantage into the final quarter and Yakuba Ouattara hit Monaco's first triple of the night, cutting it to 67-60. Schneider hit a corner triple, but fastbreak baskets from Lacombe and Lazeric Jones got Monaco within 70-66 midway through the fourth. Sikma stopped the bleeding with a reverse layup and Stefan Peno added a fastbreak dunk during an 8-0 run that made it 78-66 and all but wrapped up the win.

Key stat

Monaco shot 0 for 15 from three-point range through the first three quarters and missed its first 17 attempts until Yakuba Ouattara hit one on his team's 18th attempt with 7:25 to go in the game. Meanwhile, ALBA made 7 of 17 triples for the night.

ALBA's contributors

ALBA had five players in double figures. Apart from Luke Skima and Tim Schneider, it was Martin Hermannsson with 11 points and 6 assists, Landry Nnoko with 11 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks, and Stefan Peno with 10 points.

Stellar Berlin return

Elmedin Kikanovic spent two seasons with ALBA and had a great return with 26 points on 12-of-17 two-point shooting, including making 11 of his first 12 attempts, which held Monaco in range for the majority of the night.

Record pace

ALBA entered the game averaging 23.9 assists per game, on pace for best-ever in EuroCup history, and then dished 25 assists in this game, improving its average to 24.0 per contest.

Next game

Next week in Round 2, Monaco will host Rytas Vilnius in its first ever Top 16 home game, while ALBA will travel to the Serbian capital to face Partizan NIS Belgrade.

Luke Sikma - ALBA Berlin (photo Andreas Knopf - ALBA) - EC18
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: CHRISTODOULOU, CHRISTOS; KOWALSKI, MARCIN; OVINOV, SEMEN
Attendance: 8111
By Quarter1234
ALBA Berlin18262118
AS Monaco15231521
End of Quarter1234
ALBA Berlin18446583
AS Monaco15385374
ALBA Berlin
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 SAIBOU, JOSHIKO 15:17 2 1/5 0/2   1 3 4 4 1 3   2 1 2 1
5 GIFFEY, NIELS 15:32 6 3/5 0/1                   2 2 3
6 HUNDT, BENNET 11:26 2 1/2 0/1     1 1 1   1     1    
10 SCHNEIDER, TIM 17:07 16 2/2 4/4     2 2 1 1       1   19
15 HERMANNSSON, MARTIN 22:16 11 1/4 1/2 6/6 1   1 6 1 1     1 4 17
22 WAGNER, FRANZ 4:12 2 1/2                         1
31 GIEDRAITIS, ROKAS 24:28 4 2/5 0/2     1 1 1   1   1 2 1 -2
32 THIEMANN, JOHANNES 8:22 2     2/2 1   1     1     2 1 1
33 CLIFFORD, DENNIS 11:07   0/1     2 1 3 2 2         2 8
35 NNOKO, LANDRY 19:50 11 5/6   1/2 4 5 9 1   3 2   4 3 17
43 SIKMA, LUKE 23:34 17 4/6 2/4 3/3   3 3 5 2 1 1 1 3 3 22
44 PENO, STEFAN 26:49 10 4/10 0/1 2/2 1 2 3 4   1   1 1 3 10
Team           3 2 5     1         4
Totals 200:00 83 24/48 7/17 14/15 13 20 33 25 7 13 3 5 18 21 101
        50% 41.2% 93.3%
Head coach: GARCIA RENESES, AITO
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
AS Monaco
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 JONES, LAZERIC 22:36 6 3/5 0/3         5   2   1   1 4
3 BARRY, REMI 0:38                              
4 NEEDHAM, DEREK 17:24   0/1 0/1         3 2       3 1 1
6 LACOMBE, PAUL 34:21 20 6/10 1/5 5/7 2 8 10 4   5   1 3 6 21
8 GLADYR, SERGII 16:37 3   0/2 3/5 1   1   1       4 2 -1
9 KIKANOVIC, ELMEDIN 30:39 26 12/17 0/1 2/4 4 4 8     2     4 5 25
20 LOUBAKI, LUC DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 JONES, JARROD 30:21 10 4/6 0/3 2/2 2 3 5 2   1   1 2 1 9
22 ROBINSON, GERALD 18:35 2 1/1 0/2     1 1 1   2 1   2   -1
23 BUCKNER, ERIC 17:32 4 2/3     1 2 3     2 4   1 2 9
24 OUATTARA, YAKUBA 11:17 3   1/3     1 1   1 1     2    
50 JOSEPH, GEORGI DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           3 1 4               4
Totals 200:00 74 28/43 2/20 12/18 13 20 33 15 4 15 5 3 21 18 71
        65.1% 10% 66.7%
Head coach: FILIPOVSKI, SASO

Head Coaches

GARCIA RENESES, AITO
ALBA Berlin
"It was a difficult game for us, because we have Joshiko Saibou and Martin Hermannsson coming back and Peyton Siva out again. Monaco is a good team, but they also have some players coming back from injuries. Tonight they shot very good on two-pointers and very bad on three-pointers. We did not have the best continuity, but we played clever, especially in the second half.”​
FILIPOVSKI, SASO
AS Monaco
"ALBA played better today. They were the better team. We had problems with our turnovers, while ALBA was more consistent. They scored too many points off our turnovers. We struggled with our three-point shot and hit only 10 percent – much less than we normally do. We did not have a good scoring day although we scored 74 points. It was a pleasure to play in the city of basketball."

Players

SIKMA, LUKE
ALBA Berlin
"It is always difficult if the other team is making three-point shots. A lot of times we did a good job in contesting three-point line, which I think made them miss them. It was a physical game and all the games are going to be like this in the Top 16, so we are happy to get away with a win. It was a really big game, especially to defend the home court. Anything can happen in this competition, so if you can win all your games at home it will give you a huge advantage with only two teams advancing. So, I am really satisfied with a win."
NNOKO, LANDRY
ALBA Berlin
"You have to give a lot of credit to Monaco. They played hard all game long, especially Kikanovic gave us a hard time under the basket. In the end it was our defense that helped us win the game. We got more stops and were able to interrupt Monaco's fast breaks more often."