Monaco suffered its first Betclic Elite basketball home defeat of the season against Le Mans (86-74) on Sunday, and its second in a week across all competitions, while Asvel and Paris crushed Gravelines-Dunkerque (81-60) and Strasbourg (106-74) respectively.

A bad week at Gaston-Médecin for the two-time defending French champions, already dominated by Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday in the Euroleague (98-90). They responded well with a win two days later. in Vitoria (87-75)but have been decidedly inconsistent since the start of the season. Their five-game winning streak in the league came to a logical end: lacking in long-range address (4/25 including 1/5 for Jordan Loyd and 0/7 for Mike James), they were chasing the score from the outset.

However, they came back to within one point with seven minutes to go (63-64) on Alpha Diallo’s award-winning shot, even though Le Mans had just had one of its best players, Tray Buchanan (16 pts), sent off for five fouls. But they were unable to capitalize on this high point, losing a few important balls and suffering from the lightning of TaShawn Thomas (21 pts including 2/3 3-pointers) and Trevor Hudgins (11 pts at 2/4 from long range). Coming off the bench after Buchanan was sent off for four fouls, the latter stunned the “Roca Team” with an off-center 3-pointer at the end of the possession followed by a counter-attack basket (85-70 with 55 seconds remaining).

Monaco, whose penalty of one win less in the standings was confirmed on Thursday by the French Basketball Federation (FFBB), is in 7th place (5 wins/3 losses), two wins behind Asvel and Paris, runners-up to Cholet (7/1, one match down).

Hifi in major mode

The other two teams in the Euroleague maintained their continental momentum. The Parisians, the European hit of the moment (six straight wins most recently in Barcelona), scattered an apathetic SIG without, however, their best player TJ Shorts, who was out injured. But the team (27 assists, 18/40 3pt) and Nadir Hifi shone: the point guard put in a flamboyant first half (21 pts at 5/6 3pt, 29 pts at 6/10 in the end) against his training club.

The Villeurbannais team built on their hard-fought victory on Thursday. against Red Star Belgrade (77-74)which brought them a huge breath of fresh air after five defeats in the competition. On Sunday, they gave Gravelines no chance, and with this fourth defeat in a row, they fell back into line after a good start to the season: they led 39-19 from the quarter-hour mark, launched by Joffrey Lauvergne (16 pts) before Théo Maledon in particular took over (20 pts at 3/5 from long range and 6 assists). On Thursday, Asvel travel to Monaco in the Euroleague.