Third match and third victory for Monaco, which pulled off the perfect hold-up to win 92-85 on the Philippe Chatrier court at Roland-Garros, after a battle of great intensity.
As in Game 2 in Monaco, the Mets 92 started with a bang with an 11-2 marked by the dunks of Victor Wembanyama and TaShawn Thomas and concluded with a 2+1 from Bilal Coulibaly. Vincent Collet’s men held on this time with an unstoppable Wembanyama-Thomas tandem in the first half, in order to maintain their lead until the break (53-44).
In particular, there was a monumental 3-point step-back from “Wemby” on Domantas Motiejunas then a dunk in traffic from TaShawn Thomas to respond to the Monegasque offensives.
Boulogne-Levallois left foot to the floor, relying on two dunks from Bilal Coulibaly and a 3-pointer from DeVante Jones to bring the score to 64-53. Monaco then raised their level of play on both sides of the floor to quickly pick up. Elie Okobo and Jaron Blossomgame at 3-points then Mike James put the pressure back on Boulogne-Levallois by bringing the Roca Team down to -3 (64-61).
Jordan Lloyd in legend
The Ile-de-France residents held on, relying on Armel Traoré, TaShawn Thomas, or an exploit by Barry Brown in traffic to restore their six-point lead with a 2+1 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Victor Wembanyama followed up with two big two-handed dunks then four throws to respond to the repeated exploits of Jaron Blossomgame (81-76).
But after another 3-pointer from Jaron Blossomgame, it was Elie Okobo who pulled off a 2+1 to put Monaco in front for the first time in the match (81-82)! The inside baskets of DeVante Jones and Barry Brown were not enough in the end since at 85-85, it was Jordan Lloyd who released the big game with two 3-point missiles at the head of the racket.
Two shots that will remain in the legend of the Monaco team, which won its first title of champion of France thanks to this 92-85 success. Author of 22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 blocks for 30 evaluation, Victor Wembanyama will have tried everything to try to extend the series. He will now be able to focus on the Draft in a week, like Bilal Coulibaly (8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist).
