After a shaky first half plagued by missed shots, Le Mans mounted an impressive comeback in the second half but ultimately couldn’t prevent Monaco from securing their second consecutive Coupe de France trophy, following their 2023 victory. Monaco’s determination to win this final was evident from the outset.
Having already triumphed in the Leaders Cup, also against Le Mans in the final, AS Monaco is now in a strong position to achieve a grand slam. However, qualifying for the Euroleague Final Four with a consistently thin squad presents a different challenge.
German player Daniel Theis, whose participation was initially uncertain, was included in the starting lineup for the Roca Team and scored the opening points. The Le Mans defense struggled at times, particularly against Mike James, allowing Monaco to take an early lead of 7-3 and 15-9. Despite this, MSB managed to stay in the game, with the duo of Travante Williams and TaShawn Thomas contributing to a score of 19-17 in favor of ASM at the end of the first quarter.
Nemanja Nedovic, who had been absent in a previous game against Barcelona, entered the court. While Monaco’s shooting accuracy wasn’t exceptional, Le Mans’ was disastrous, shooting 27% after 14 minutes with a combined 1-for-13 from their quartet of Grasshoff, Hudgins, DiLeo, and Berhanmeskel, despite often finding themselves in favorable positions. This contributed to a slight gap opening up at 27-21. However, Le Mans’ errors continued to mount, pushing MSB further behind to 36-26 and then 45-29 at halftime. Their 11-for-44 shooting performance was improbable, while Matthew Strazel, who scored 13 points with 4/6 shooting and 4 assists, showed no signs of fatigue from the previous day’s efforts.
Though the situation seemed dire, Le Mans players regained their confidence and improved their finishing, halving the deficit in a few exchanges to 47-42. With a demanding week of games, the players from the Principality seemed to be battling fatigue.
The spectacular resurgence was short-lived. A “unsportsmanlike” foul called on Bastien Grasshoff disrupted MSB’s momentum and re-energized their opponents, who extended their lead to 64-49, before an 0-8 run in the final moments of the quarter narrowed the score to 64-57.
David DiLeo added to the tension, making it 64-60. The game became intense, and Le Mans had truly found their rhythm. A three-pointer from Trevor Hudgins brought the score to 69-68, and he followed up with a two-point shot. The unthinkable had happened: Le Mans took the lead with 6 minutes and 22 seconds remaining, 69-70.
The end of the game was electrifying. Le Mans led by three points twice (69-72 and 71-74), but it was Monaco, through three free throws from Alpha Diallo, who regained the lead with 17 seconds left on the clock. Mike James intercepted a bad pass from Travante Williams on the subsequent play and calmly sank two free throws, making the score 86-82. A final free throw from Juhann Begarin extinguished any remaining hopes for Le Mans.
The detailed box score is available here.
