There’s no such thing as a routine night in the EuroLeague, and Monaco’s Roca Team proved it again with a nail-biting 82–79 victory over Milan on the road on Thursday, October 9. After leading by as many as ten points, the Monegasques were pushed to the brink in a tense finale, but held firm to claim a vital win that could prove decisive for their confidence and campaign momentum.
Facing an old club he knows all too well, former Milan forward Nikola Mirotić lined up alongside Mike James, Matthew Strazel, Alpha Diallo and Daniel Theis in Vassilis Spanoulis’s starting five. Missing Yoan Makoundou through injury, Spanoulis’ side looked sharp from the start, James and Strazel finding their rhythm early from beyond the arc, while Mirotić and Theis combined effectively in the paint to establish an early lead.
Milan, however, refused to fade. Zach LeDay’s long-range accuracy kept the Italians within touching distance, and Gudurić and Booker led a spirited fightback that briefly levelled the scores in the third quarter. But Monaco’s experience showed: Strazel and James struck from deep, while Theis dominated inside, ending the night with a flawless shooting performance and a mountain of rebounds.
In the final stretch, Elie Okobo’s scoring burst and Diallo’s defensive heroics helped Monaco build a ten-point cushion. Yet Milan surged back late, Gudurić hitting from distance and Booker cutting the gap to a single point. With seconds left, Alpha Diallo produced a match-saving block on Shields before Strazel coolly sank two free throws to seal the win.
The result, hard-fought and full of character, keeps the Roca Team’s EuroLeague ambitions firmly on track, as Spanoulis’s men continue to prove they can grind out victories even when the margins are razor-thin.
