Efes pour down on Monaco as Mike James leaves the game early / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Aykut Akici/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Aykut Akici/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Anadolu Efes Istanbul (5/6) and Rodrigue Beaubois have been on a roll lately. They have won their third straight Turkish Airlines EuroLeague contest, beating AS Monaco (5/6) 98-77 (24-20, 34-20, 15-21, 25-16).

Player of the Game EFF 24 Rodrigue Beaubois Points 17 Accuracy 7-12 Rebounds 3 Assists 7

Monaco started the fourth quarter with a 6-0 run to cut their deficit to six (67-73). But a few moments later, Mike James asked to be subbed out and left to the locker room.

He returned to the bench later on but did not step back on the floor. With James absent, Efes went on a 15-0 run to run away from Monaco and secure a 19-point victory.

James finished with 4 points (2/5 2PT, 0/1 3PT), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 turnover in 18 minutes of action.

Rodrigue Beaubois and Tibor Pleiss started the game on fire, scoring the first 15 points for Efes. On the opposing side, Donatas Motiejunas scored the first nine points for Monaco.

The offensive battle continued in the second, but Monaco could not keep up with Efes' offense. The hosts went on a 13-3 run to gain a commanding 46-31 advantage. Not only that, Efes finished the half well and had an 18-point advantage at halftime (58-40).

Monaco retaliated in the third period, going on a 12-0 run to cut their deficit to six (54-60). Shane Larkin led Efes to a 9-0 spurt (69-54) to help his team regain a double-digit lead going into the final period (73-61).

Rodrigue Beaubois led Monaco with 17 points (4/6 2PT, 3/6 3PT), 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, and 24 PIR.

"We are looking for wins right now, so it is one more," Beaubois said post-game. "We need to keep fighting because it is going to be hard, but we need to find ways to win games. We know we have a lot of guys that can shoot. Sometimes, it doesn't go in, unfortunately, but when we feel good and shoot the ball, usually good things happen."

Donatas Motiejunas had his best EuroLeague game for Monaco this season. He finished with 21 points (6/7 2PT, 3/3 3PT, 0/1 FT), 5 rebounds, 2 turnovers, and 22 PIR.

"It was an excellent week for us, because we found our people, our fans here and I am very happy because I found my team," Ergin Ataman said after the game. Also today, we could have scored more than 100 points, maybe 110 points. Everybody enjoys now, like last year, to play together, and I hope we will continue on this way."

Efes: Rodrigues Beaubois 17 (7 AST), Shane Larkin 14, Adrien Moerman 14 (7 REB), Tibor Pleiss 12, Filip Petrusev 10, Krunoslav Simon 8.

Monaco: Donatas Motiejunas 21 (5 REB), Paris Lee 18, Dwayne Bacon 12, Alpha Diallo 8.

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