AS Monaco Basketball suffered a fourth-quarter collapse in the Stark Arena cauldron in Serbia as Sasa Obraodivc’s men began the year with a loss against Partizan Belgrade (100-80) on Thursday.

The Roca Team were kept alive in the game by the efforts of Elie Okobo, who after a short period of adaptation, has become one of the leading creative sources within the side. His 17 points and nine assists helped Monaco keep up with Partizan, who were free-scoring throughout the fixture.

Familiar faces

The usually infallible Mike James was off-colour on the night, registering a meagre nine points, and his performance epitomised the Monaco collective, who after a brilliant end to 2022, couldn’t carry their form into the New Year.

In Belgrade, Monaco came up against a familiar face in Danilo Andjusic, the Roca player, who departed the Principality club in the summer in search of a new challenge. The Serbian was prolific from outside the arc, scoring all four of his T3 attempts, and at the right time, allowing Partizan to grow an unassailable lead in the fourth-quarter.

Offensively stifled, Monaco couldn’t stop bleeding points at the other end either as they suffered a nightmarish 10 minutes of basketball (31-12) on their way to a heavy defeat (100-80).

In defeat, Monaco missed the chance to move clear at the top of the Euroleague table, however, not all is lost with Baskonia and Barcelona losing earlier on Thursday evening.

Photo by AS Monaco Basket