With six professionals and four prospects on the roster, the Roca Team suffered a predictable away defeat to Bourg-en-Bresse (81-104) on Sunday, April 12, returning from Ain with their players intact ahead of Friday’s Euroleague clash with Hapoel Tel Aviv.
This trip to Bourg-en-Bresse was always going to be played with a different objective in mind. Coming off back-to-back home victories against ASVEL and Barcelona in the Euroleague, coaches Sergii Gladyr and Manuchar Markoishvili made the deliberate choice to rest key figures ahead of the week’s more pressing commitment. Mike James and Alpha Diallo were left out of the squad entirely. Nemanja Nedovic and Terry Tarpey remain sidelined with injury, and Juhann Begarin was also unavailable. In their place, four young prospects were added to the roster alongside six professionals, with Nikola Mirotic returning to provide experience and leadership from the starting five alongside Elie Okobo, Kyllian Michee, Matthew Strazel and Daniel Theis.
Monaco made a bright start. Kyllian Michee opened his account with a three-pointer in the first quarter, Mirotic added two of his own, and Okobo’s playmaking helped the Roca Boys build a nine-point lead that prompted Frédéric Fauthoux to call a timeout after six minutes. The response from the hosts was immediate and damaging. Bourg came out of the break with greater aggression, with Mitchell leading an 8-0 run that wiped out the deficit, before the home side poured in 19 points in the final three minutes of the quarter to turn a Monaco lead into a four-point deficit at 31-27.
The second quarter told a similar story: spells of genuine quality from Monaco, interrupted by Bourg’s relentless attacking. The Roca Boys showed real fight, reeling off nine consecutive points at one stage to close the gap to four, with a Michee floater and a Strazel three-pointer among the highlights, but Bourg’s Moularé and Mokoka ensured the home side always had an answer. A transition dunk from Mokoka at the buzzer sent Bourg into the break leading 59-51.
The second half belonged almost entirely to the hosts. Despite Mirotic continuing to compete and Theis and Okobo doing their best to keep the scoreline respectable, Bourg extended their lead steadily through the third quarter and into the fourth, eventually reaching triple figures with relative ease. Monaco’s limited rotation made the physical attrition increasingly difficult to absorb as the game wore on, and the final margin of 23 points reflected the circumstances as much as the contest itself.
The result will be set aside quickly in the Principality, and rightly so. The evening offered valuable minutes for prospects Paindepice, Moungalla and Klitchko, all of whom got on the scoresheet, and Kyllian Michee turned in a composed performance with 8 points, a rebound and two assists. Monaco return home without injury, and with full focus now turning to Friday’s Euroleague fixture against Hapoel Tel Aviv at the Gaston Médecin.