Jordan Loyd scored 8 critical points in under a minute as the fourth quarter wound down to send Monaco into the Final Four and leave Maccabi Tel Aviv empty handed as they fell 97-86 in a thrilling game five in the Principality. With the defeat, the yellow-and-blue’s Euroleague season came to an end just one game shy of participating in the semifinals of the continent’s premier competition in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Oded Katash’s squad started off strong as Wade Baldwin and Jarell Martin spurred Maccabi to an early 33-26 lead after the first quarter, but Monaco’s Mike James began to slice and dice the visitors up in the second period with 21 points in the first half while helping his side begin the frame with a 15-0 run to give Sasa Obradovic’s charges a 53-49 advantage at halftime.

Baldwin along with John Dibartolomeo and Darrun Hilliard got hot in the third quarter but Jordan Loyd began to score at will in James’s stead due to an injury for the superstar as the hosts grabbed a 72-70 lead after thirty minutes of action.

However, Maccabi snatched a 79-76 advantage midway through the fourth quarter, but Loyd scored 8 points in just 56 seconds after a number of yellow-and-blue fouls as Monaco retook the lead for good and record the 11-point win to punch their ticket to the Final Four where they will join Barcelona, Real Madrid and Olympiacos.

Baldwin led the way for Maccabi with 27 points, while Brown and Martin each had 12 points in the loss. Both Loyd and James each scored 21 points for Monaco in the win.

“I want to congratulate Monaco who qualified for the Final Four,” a somber Oded Katash began. “It wasn’t easy for us and it wasn’t easy for them. We we there from game one, we missed a big opportunity in game three and on this game Monaco came out aggressive and pushed the ball to a high tempo game. We adapted and we had a big chance. We had 3-4 defensive possessions where we needed to use our fouls better and we were a little bit over motivated.”

“I don’t have the strength to say anything right now,” a thrilled Sasa Obradovic commented. “I’m happy for the team – great players make great coaches. Hopefully this night will stay forever in our hearts. We grow up thanks to this, we get better players and a better coach in the end. I’m happy for all of this program, happy from the beginning what we went through and definitely we deserved to be in the top four teams.”

Lorenzo Brown reflected on the loss, “Somebody had to win, you know. It came down to late game fouls, silly fouls, in my opinion. Loyd got to the line with three fouls from the three-point line and that kind of separated us at the end in the last three minutes. Just got to be solid and live with those long-distance shots.”

Jordan Loyd also looked back at the contest, “I’m speechless right now. Nobody had this team in the Final Four at the start of the season, nobody had this team winning this series and I’m just happy that this club can get some respect, some much well-deserved respect. This is unbelievable, so yeah, I’m excited, happy.”

Maccabi opened up their morning shoot around to the media and the players looked loosey-goosey ready to go for the biggest game in the franchise’s history since 2014 when they last won the Euroleague championship. There seemed to be no pressure and they were all cool, calm and collected exactly in the image of their star guard Lorenzo Brown who pocketed the European Championship with Spain this summer.

AVI EVEN about REPRESENTING ISRAEL🇮🇱

“It gives me goosebumps”

📺 | #SRMonaco pic.twitter.com/dF30JpapKk

— Sports Rabbi (@thesportsrabbi) May 10, 2023

But the most inspirational words had to be that from incoming general manager Avi Even about representing not only Maccabi but also Israel in these trying time for the country with rocket attacks coming from the Gaza Strip.

Even, who has served the club for years as the head of scouting and also as interim coach last season couldn’t have been more succinct in his words, “You ask this and I get goosebumps. We are currently in the middle of not very easy times, we are here wearing the hat of Maccabi, but also wearing the hat of all the people in Israel and it brings us pride to be in that place especially in times like this.”

With that, Jarell Martin got busy early for Maccabi Tel Aviv with a dunk and triple, award Baldwin also went from deep but Jordan Loyd and Yakuba Ouattara also found points from downtown, however another bucket form each Baldwin and Martin gave the yellow-and-blue a slim 15-14 lead midway through the first quarter. Mike James dialled up long distance, a red hot Baldwin kept scoring, Donta Hall went up for an alley-oop, James added a 4-point play, Darrun Hilliard knocked down a midrange, Brown nailed a corner 3-ball. John Dibartolomeo also went from deep to give Oded Katash’s squad a 33-26 lead after ten minutes of play.

Monaco is a place of exclusivity, stars and the like, which also includes a monarch as a very special guest in the Prince of Monaco, Albert II arrived in time for tip-off. The 65-year old Prince took control of the Principality after his father Rainier III passed away in 2005. His mother was of course one of the great all-time American actresses in Grace Kelly who passed away tragically in a car accident in 1982.

Of course, the Roca Team’s star of stars Mike James made sure to show the Prince a thing or two as he went in for a contested layup, added a triple over an outstretched Lorenzo Brown and then put in a 3-point play to help his team to a 15-0 run to begin the second quarter and take a 41-33 lead with five minutes left in the first half. Lorenzo Brown put in Maccabi’s first points of the period from deep, Baldwin went in for a layup, Bonzie Colson, Baldwin and Hilliard all went from downtown, James came back with another bucket as did Ouattara to give Sasa Obradovic’s team a 53-49 advantage at halftime.

The weather in Monaco was all over the map. From hot, humid, to cold and rainy. Throw in a few downpours as well and you’ve got one big melting pot so to speak. In fact, that’s what you see all over Monaco; people of all types and from all over the world. It may be a principality for the exclusive to live but not to visit.

Alpha Diallo opened the third quarter with points, Baldwin lined up for a triple, Loyd came back with a deuce, Martin, Dibartolomeo and Hilliard all went from downtown to knot the score up at 61-61 midway through the frame. Baldwin and Okobo traded points from deep, both sides hit free throws, Hall dunked but Lorenzo Brown answered with a layup at the end of the quarter to keep Maccabi close but down 72-70 after thirty minutes of end to end action.

The yellow-and-blue perhaps went to try their luck at the Casino because they’ve been lucky as lucky can be despite losing the battle of the boards, turning the ball over way too many times and being in the hole 80-67 in the performance index they headed into the final frame just a pair of points away from Monaco. However, during the course of the period, James headed to the lockerroom with a foot injury.

However, While James was on the court it was clear that he was struggling to get his footing but that didn’t stop Diallo from putting down a monster dunk to get the fourth quarter underway. Baldwin stole the ball for a dunk, Colson put in a deuce and Moneke dunked but the yellow-and-blue held a 77-76 lead with five minutes remaining in regulation time. Okobo fed Hall for an alley-oop, an unsportsmanlike call on Colson led to free throws by Loyd who came on for the aforementioned James, Loyd then went from way downtown and knocked down a trio of free throws after a foul by Martin to put Monaco up 86-79 with three minutes to go.

Poythress dunked, Hall put in a missed James attempt, Baldwin went from deep, Okobo hit an off balance jumper and then added free throws to close out the victory and send Monaco to the Final Four.