It’s a prestigious victory, but also an important victory with the end of the regular season looming and the scent of the play-offs starting to get stronger. Respectively 9th and 10th, Monaco and Fenerbahçe clearly do not intend to settle for the regular season. To do this, they must win victories and, above all, be able to decide between them. Indeed, the Roca Team had to win with more than 11 points to recover the tie-breaker which will decide between the two clubs in the event of a tie at the end of the regular season. Mission accomplished, therefore, with a 92-78 victory.
Monaco starts strong
If the first quarter saw the two teams respond blow for blow, the result was clearly to the advantage of the Monegasques who inflicted on their opponents a terrible 36-13 in the second quarter. Alpha Diallo (24 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists) and his teammates led at the break (55-33). This handicap of 22 points, the Turks have never been able to erase it. Nando de Colo, back after two months out with a broken left hand, did everything in his power (19 points, 2 assists). His team’s top scorer ahead of Marko Guduric (18 points), the Frenchman was not enough.
A strong international context
The heavy international context (the invasion of Ukraine by Russia) had not been set aside during this meeting since for the first time during a meeting of the Monaco team, Prince Albert was accompanied of her young children, Gabriella and Jacques. Alongside the Prince, Aleksej Fedoricsev, the new Russian president of the club, and the Ukrainian Sergeï Dyadechko, current vice-president and former president of the club.
