Monaco edges Rytas
AS Monaco registered its first-ever Top 16 victory by edging visiting Rytas Vilnius 75-70 on Wednesday night. The result left both teams with 1-1 records and they were later joined by Partizan NIS Belgrade and ALBA Berlin to form a four-way tie in Group E. In a game that went down to the wire, the biggest lead of the night was 13-21, which Rytas held late in the first quarter. Neither team held a lead bigger than 6 points in the second half. Jarrod Jones had 15 points and 8 rebounds in victory, Elmedin Kikanovic also scored 15 and Gerald Robinson added 14 for Monaco, which was outrebounded 29-49 and still pulled out the victory. Martynas Echodas had 13 points for Rytas, while Dominique Sutton collected 12 points plus 7 rebounds and D.J. Seeley had 10 points and 9 rebounds in defeat.
Derek Needham and Robinson each made a three-pointer to build an early 11-4 lead, but Art Parakhouski sparked a big run during which Echodas and Sutton each had a dunk, while Deividas Sirvydis and Mindaugas Girdziunas each knocked down a triple. Lazeric Jones snapped a 2-17 run with a jumper to make it 15-21 after 10 minutes. Eric Buckner and Robinson got Monaco within 21-23. Seeley hit a baseline jumper and Sutton scored inside to establish a 23-30 advantage, but the hosts scored the next 7 points, including a three-pointer from Jarrod Jones to tie the game. Sutton's basket gave Rytas a 30-32 halftime lead. Jarrod Jones had a three-point play and Kikanovic strung together 7 points, including a three-point play, to put Monaco up 40-38 midway through the third quarter. However, Rok Stipcevic hit a three-pointer for the visitors and dished a no-look pass for a Parakhouski dunk that helped Rytas take a 47-51 lead into the fourth quarter. Buckner had a pair of dunks and Jarrod Jones nailed a three, but Echodas strung together 7 points of his own, including an alley-oop dunk-plus-foul to keep Rytas in front. Another put-back from Buckner and another triple from Jarrod Jones gave Monaco a 65-62 edge, but Seeley answered with a three-pointer for the visitors. Lazeric Jones and Robinson scored baskets that put the hosts back in front, but Sutton tied it twice with close-range buckets. However, Needham hit a long jumper with 1:20 to go, which Monaco followed up with two defensive stands to keep the lead for good.