Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Monaco 85-77 as Vasilije Micic was in MVP mode and Jonathan Motley scored at will in the final frame to take the win.

Vasilije Micic and Dan Oturu came out flying for Hapoel Tel Aviv while Collin Malcom knocked down a trip of triples, Mike James countered for Monaco but the Reds took a 27-18 lead after ten minutes of play. Alpha Diallo and James tried to cut the gap in the second quarter but Johnathan Motley along with Micic kept the Reds ahead as they held a 44-34 advantage at halftime.

Daniel Theis and Elie Okobo found points for the visitors to open up the second half, Oturu and Micic responded, James came back with points as did Nikola Mirotic and Mathew Strazel to give Monaco a 63-62 lead after thirty minutes of action. Antonio Blakeney started to score in bunches as the fourth quarter began, Okobo answered, as Mirotic and James both added points, Jonathan Motley scored in bunches in response while Micic drained a triple to close out the clash.

Micic scored 22 points, Motley added 17 points while Malcolm and Oturu scored 11 points in the win. James scored 20 points as Elie Okobo and Daniel Theis each dropped 12 points in the loss.

The game MVP Vasilije Micic spoke about the victory, “The beginning of the third quarter they started their run well, but all of our players contributed and the most important thing was the win. We played really clever the last five minutes and we knew how to defend their main weapons so we were ready. We are happy when we win but it’s only 6 games, there are many left.”

Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis spoke about the win, “We didn’t lose our faith. Even when they took over, we were composed. I’m happy that we’re in the process of becoming a real team. That will not make us relaxed, on the contrary, we’ve got to build on it.”

Jonathan Motley also commented, “I knew they were playing drop a little bit. So I wanted to shoot some jumpers and take advantage of the space they were giving me. We weren’t happy with our defense. So we went to the film room, figured out some things we could do better, and tonight we did a really good job.”