The Monegasques now have 17 wins for 7 losses, a record identical to that of the Metropolitans 92, who nevertheless remain at the top of the Elite, since they have won their two matches this season against the players of the Principality (108-81 and 115-106).
Dwayne Bacon, who saved the Roca Team at the last second at the start of the week against Strasbourg (105-103), scored 16 points, as many as Will Thomas.
In front of more than 8,000 spectators, the Parisians, promoted to Elite this season, hung on the behemoth of the championship, one of the two biggest budgets with Villeurbanne.
Monaco are heading into a decisive week in the Euroleague in their frantic race for the play-offs with two home matches against Olympiakos (Wednesday) and Vitoria (Friday).
In Beaublanc, faced with a Limoges CSP yet greatly diminished by several cases of Covid-19 within its workforce (Assane Ndoye, Nicolas Lang, Ingus Jakovics and Grismay Paumier), Boulogne-Levallois bowed at the end of the suspense after two five-minute periods of overtime.
Vincent Collet's players record their seventh defeat of the season, but especially the 4th since mid-February, a sign of a slowdown in the Ile-de-France region in recent weeks.
CJ Massinburg and Demonte Harper for the Mets 92 both broke the 30-point mark (31 and 30 respectively), while Hugo Invernizzi scored a near-decisive three-pointer 19 seconds from the buzzer (107-101).
Behind the leading duo, Villeurbanne put an end to a negative series of five consecutive losses (two in Elite and three in Euroleague) by coming with great difficulty to the end of the red lantern of the French championship, Fos-sur-Mer, 84 to 80.
Thanks to this 16th success, Asvel, double holder of the national title (2019 and 2021) sticks to the heels of Boulogne-Levallois and Monaco, and gives itself a little air on a quartet of pursuers (Pau-Orthez, Dijon, Le Le Mans and Strasbourg) to 14 wins (but one more match for the Alsatians).
© 2022 AFP