Bost paces Monaco in opener

AS Monaco got its 7DAYS EuroCup campaign started on the right foot by beating visiting MoraBanc Andorra 82-66 on Tuesday night in Group A. Monaco led for all but the first possession of the game and had five players in double digits. J.J. O'Brien led all scorers with 16 points and had 6 rebounds in his EuroCup debut. Dee Bost directed Monaco's victory with 12 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Anthony Clemmons and Yakuba Outtara also had 12 points apiece, and Eric Buckner scored 11 in victory. Andorra's Marko Todorovic scored all 14 of his points in the first half, and Moussa Diagne collected 11 points and 6 rebounds in a losing effort.

Monaco took control from the start with Bost feeding his teammates inside or in transition. Monaco had seven different scorers before the game's eighth minute while opening a 17-10 lead on an Anthony Clemmons triple. Todorovic was hot for Andorra, but Bost, Dylan Ennis and O'Brien forged a 28-16 advantage early in the second. The hosts kept the margin mainly in the double digits, and consecutive threes from Kim Tillie and Outtara made it 47-32 at halftime. Andorra came out with more energy in the second half, and one three from Bandja Sy and a pair from Clevin Hannah cut the deficit to 51-45. However, Bost, O'Brien and Clemmons got the hosts going again, restoring a double-digit margin before a three-pointer from Outtara helped increase it to 67-51 late in the third quarter. The visitors found some hope when David Walker hit back-to-back triples early in the fourth, getting them within 73-64, but Bost answered right away from deep at the other end, then Wilfred Yeguete scored twice inside and Monaco never looked back.

Club record

Monaco picked up 15 steals in this game, which is not only the club's EuroCup best, but also the second most in the competition since 2017. Anthony Clemmons with 4 and Dee Bost with 3 combined for almost half of them, and nearly as many as the entire Andorra team (8).

Bost leaves his mark

In his first game in the competition since the 2015-16 season, Monaco's point guard Bost tied his competition career-highs in assists (8) and steals (3).

Stats tell the story

Monaco took 5 more field goal attempts, but still manage to pull down more defensive rebounds (20) than Andorra (14) and to outrebound the visitors 32-27. And Monaco finished with a huge margin in performance index rating, 101-60.

Next up:

In Round 2 next Wednesday, Monaco travels to visit Promitheas Patras while Andorra will play at home against ratiopharm Ulm.