Bayern can't stop Monaco and lose 94-71

FC Bayern's basketball team missed out on their fourth EuroLeague victory, losing 94-71 at reigning EuroCup champion AS Monaco. While the home strong Monegasques improved to 5-4. The FCBB record is now 3-6. Top scorers were Vladimir Lucic (15), Othello Hunter (14), Deshaun Thomas and Augustine Rubit (10 each).

In front of 3,800 fans in the cramped Salle Gaston Médecin, the guests - still without Radosevic, Sisko and Zipser - quickly trailed 13-4: Monaco defended aggressively, did not allow any threes and scored almost perfectly (23-12/8.). Rubit, as well as Weiler-Babb, conceded his third foul before the break - Hunter his number four (17.). But 55 AS points (80% twos) and eight threes (53%) were clearly too much. 

After the change, continuous foul whistles and turnovers (a total of 20) prevented a comeback. The athletic hosts consistently defended the largest lead of 76-60 and never let up.

The FCBB travel directly to Chemnitz on Saturday morning for the Cup duel: On Sunday (18:00/MagentaSport), the defending champions will face an in-form BBL rival in the Niners in front of their home crowd for the do-or-die game and a Top Four spot. In the EuroLeague, the next double week follows in a two-day rhythm with exciting home games in the Audi Dome against Fenerbahce Istanbul (Tuesday) and Panathinaikos Athens (Thursday, both at 20:30).

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Points per quarter Bayern - Monaco: 20-27, 23-28, 17-17, 11-22

Stats: ZTwo-point shooting: 61% (FCBB) // 69% (Monaco); Three-point shooting: 25% // 39%; Free-throw shooting: 67% // 77%; Rebounds:  30//27; Assists:  14//17; Turnovers:  20//9

Quotes:

Andrea Trinchieri: "Congratulations to Monaco, to coach Mitrovic and his team. They deserved the victory, they were better on both sides of the court, offense and defense. We showed a weak performance, were terrible on defense in the first half. Somehow we still moved the ball in front and tried to be better on defense in the second half. But we just lost the ball too often. Monaco was better overall. They played better and we didn't fight enough to win the game. It was a very poor game from us. We now have to analyze what we need to improve so that something like this doesn't happen again."

Nick Weiler-Babb: "It wasn't very good from us. Our best phase was in the third quarter when we pushed hard and got within seven or nine. But the rest of the game we didn't defend well or play offense. The important cup game on Sunday is now a good opportunity for us to bounce back really quickly. We have to prepare for it."  

Game recap:

Nick Weiler-Babb, Darrun Hilliard, Vladimir Lucic, Augustine Rubit and Gavin Schilling started in the first duel against Monaco and were confronted by a hot Leo Westermann. Together with Will Thomas, the guard took the Munich team by surprise and forced an early timeout by Trinchieri (13-4 from FCBB's/ 4th minute). Bayern finally showed up to the game - nimble hands from Weiler-Babb brought easy points and Othello Hunter let it rip one-handed. However, despite ten points from Rubit, the first quarter went to the Monegasques (27-20) thanks to the lightning start from Monaco.

The Bayern coach was also called upon early in the second period after Rubit, who had played well, picked up his third foul (34-21/13.). Again, the answer came posthaste after the timeout in the form of Lucic, who cleverly distributed the ball and also sank a few baskets. Sadly, Hunter also had to go to the bench after 16 minutes with four fouls. Zvezdan Mitrovic's team took advantage of this and gained a double-digit lead, which Lucic in particular kept in check with a lot of effort (55-43).

"Defend or die" was Trinchieri's announcement to his team at the break, which now made it much more difficult for the home side. However, three quick turnovers prevented the reward for the hard work (59-47/24.). The game was characterized by numerous interruptions, no team could find its rhythm. The hosts thus kept the lead mostly from the free-throw line, (72-60).

In the final quarter Bayern had a hard time catching up. Hunter put points on the scoreboard again after just under four minutes. Center Donta Hall took advantage of the few gaps in the Munich defense and increased the lead with a spectacular dunk (82-64/35).  The energy of the guests was now exhausted, while Mike James suddenly turned up the heat once again. A long fought game ended almost a little too clearly with a final score of 94-71. 

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