2018-19Regular SeasonRound 5
October 31, 2018 CET: 19:45
Local time: 19:45 STADE LOUIS II

Monaco gets first-ever EuroCup home win

AS Monaco grabbed its fourth win in five games by edging Morabanc Andorra 81-73 in a thriller at home on Wednesday. Monaco improved to 4-1 in Group A, while Andorra dropped to 2-3. Gerald Robinson paced the winners with 20 points, Yak Ouattara added 19 and 9 rebounds, Elmedin Kikanovic scored 14 points and Lazeric Jones got 13 for Monaco. David Jelinek led Andorra with 12 points, Michele Vitali added 11 and Moussa Diagne 10.

Ouattara and Kikanovic shined early to give Monaco an 8-2 lead. Ian Hummer soon added a block and before Andorra called timeout at 14-6. The visitors found a go-to guy in Diagne, who had 8 quick points to help his team take the lead, 18-19, after 10 minutes. A wild three-point play by Robinson saw Monaco regain the lead at 23-21 early in the second quarter. Vitali tried to change things for Andorra and an uncontested layup by John Shurna prompted Monaco to stop the game at 33-31. Rafa Luz followed a triple with a stop-and-pop jumper that put Andorra back in charge. Robinson kept pushing Monaco and a layup by Reggie Upshaw fixed the halftime score at 44-44. Robinson fueled a 6-0 run that gave Monaco a 53-46 margin soon after the break. Dylan Ennis and Andrew Albicy rescued Andorra, but Jones and an outstanding Ouattara kept Monaco ahead, 61-56, after 30 minutes. Andorra improved its defense and a layup by Jelinek gave the guests a 61-63 edge with under six minutes left. Robinson and Ouattara took over, but a three-pointer by Vitali turned the game into a thriller, 71-70, with over two minutes remaining. Jones followed free throws with a critical three-pointer that sealed the outcome, 76-70, as Andorra never recovered.

Pivotal performer

Robinson was consistent the entire game, scoring 14 points before halftime and finishing with 20 plus 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 fouls drawn.

Game-changing moment

Monaco led 71-70, but Jones drew a foul, calmly made free throws and soon added a three-point shot that caused Andorra to call timeout at 76-70. Monaco controlled the game from that moment until the final buzzer.

Stellar stat

Ouattara averaged 1.5 points and a PIR of 0.4 in the first 10 games of this EuroCup career – eight with Elan Chalon sur Saone in the 2013-14 season and his first two games with Monaco this season. In the last three games, Ouattara has lifted his numbers to 19.3 points and a PIR of 21.7!

Did you notice?

It was Monaco's first-ever home win in EuroCup history; its previous three victories were on the road. Andorra has never won a EuroCup road game; it is 0-8 in the last two seasons.

Next game:

Both teams return to action on Wednesday, November 7: Monaco hosts Germani Brescia Leonessa at 19:45 CET and Andorra welcomes Galatasaray Istanbul at 20:00 CET.

Gerald Robinson - AS Monaco (photo AS Monaco) - EC18
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: PASTUSIAK, PIOTR; OBRKNEZEVIC, UROS ; LAURINAVICIUS, JURGIS
Attendance: 1674
By Quarter1234
AS Monaco18261720
MoraBanc Andorra19251217
End of Quarter1234
AS Monaco18446181
MoraBanc Andorra19445673
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 30:42 13 2/6 2/5 3/3 2 4 6 3 1 4 1   1 5 17
3 BARRY, REMI 14:10 5 1/2 1/2   2   2           3   2
4 NEEDHAM, DEREK 17:59 2 0/3 0/2 2/2   2 2   1 2 1   4 1 -4
9 KIKANOVIC, ELMEDIN 27:18 14 6/11   2/4 2 2 4 1 1 2 1 1 1 4 14
20 LOUBAKI, LUC DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 JONES, JARROD 23:38 4 2/3 0/3 0/2   2 2 1   1     1 2 1
22 ROBINSON, GERALD 27:20 20 6/9 1/5 5/6 1 2 3 5 1     1 2 4 22
24 OUATTARA, YAKUBA 29:49 19 3/5 4/6 1/1 3 6 9 4     1   2   27
34 HUMMER, IAN 19:50 4 2/2 0/1   2 4 6     1 2   2 2 10
50 JOSEPH, GEORGI 9:14               1   3     3   -5
Team           1 1 2     2          
Totals 200:00 81 22/41 8/24 13/18 13 23 36 15 4 15 6 2 19 18 84
        53.7% 33.3% 72.2%
Head coach: FILIPOVSKI, SASO
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
MoraBanc Andorra
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 LUZ, RAFA 19:08 8 2/3 1/3 1/2 1 5 6 2 1 4     1 3 11
14 STEVIC, OLIVER 18:00 3 1/1   1/2 1 6 7 2         3 1 9
16 ALBICY, ANDREW 26:10 6 3/6 0/5     1 1 4 2 2   1   1 3
21 DIAGNE, MOUSSA 16:23 10 5/7     4 1 5       1 2 2 4 14
22 SHURNA, JOHN 22:18 4 2/3 0/1     2 2           4    
24 COLOM, GUILLEM DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
25 JELINEK, DAVID 22:38 12 5/7 0/2 2/2       1 1       3 2 9
30 UPSHAW, REGGIE 12:17 6 3/3 0/1     2 2 1   1     1 1 7
31 ENNIS, DYLAN 19:42 6 2/5 0/3 2/3 1 1 2 2 2 1   1 1 2 4
32 WHITTINGTON , SHAYNE 16:56 7   1/1 4/4   1 1     2 1   3 2 6
33 VITALI, MICHELE 26:28 11 3/6 1/4 2/4 1 1 2 2 1 1   2 1 3 7
Team           1 3 4     1         3
Totals 200:00 73 26/41 3/20 12/17 9 23 32 14 7 12 2 6 19 19 73
        63.4% 15% 70.6%
Head coach: NAVARRO, IBON

Head Coaches

FILIPOVSKI, SASO
AS Monaco
"I really respect Andorra and their coach. They are playing really good basketball and are very dangerous, difficult to stop. They are aggressive on offense so today we had big problems on defense in the first half. We received 44 points, but in the second half, we managed to play better defense and succeeded to keep them below 30 points. It is good that we won the rebounding, which was also a very important part of the game and I am really happy for the guys. They stayed together and won this game. Congratulations to my team and good luck to Andorra. We are basically not choosing the games, but going one by one. of course, we had a lot of difficulties with injuries, but today, Gerald Robinson played his first game in a few weeks and we have one more player in our rotation. I hope that Paul Lacombe will soon also join us; he will also help us in our rotation. It is easier to play with a bigger roster. I have really big respect for this kid [Yak Ouattara]. He is really hard-worker and I really love him. He has a big heart, is very intelligent. I am happy to be his coach and in my opinion, if he continues like this, he will definitely be a very important player in the French national team."
NAVARRO, IBON
MoraBanc Andorra
"I think that in the first half, we were not able to control the vertical game of Monaco. They scored too many two-point shots in the paint. In the second half, we were able to control it, but on the other hand, we opened situations, especially for Ouattara and in the end, three-point shots and especially not too many offensive rebounds, but very important ones at the end of the game, made this difference. In the last three minutes, it is very important the dynamics in what you are. We missed open shots, two-pointers and three-pointers, and they scored them. In the end, these small details made the difference."

Players

JONES, LAZERIC
AS Monaco
"We are fighting hard. We are working hard in practice. We had a few injuries, but kept fighting, that is just what our coaches are telling us to do."
WHITTINGTON , SHAYNE
MoraBanc Andorra
"I think we played hard for 36 minutes but obviously, that is not good enough. It could have gone either way down the stretch - you could say missed shots, offensive rebounds, but it is a matter of toughness and we didn't have it down the stretch. We let up a lot of offensive rebounds and that is on us, as players and myself. I wasn't strong enough down there and we have to work harder in the next game."