By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Khimki Moscow Region started the double-game week with a blast over Zenit St Petersburg, grabbing the 88-83 victory, improving to a 2-6 record in Round 9 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Alexey Shved called the game, helping the visitors restore their lead with less than a minute to go by hitting only net from the three-point line, adding up to a 24-point performance that led Khimki in this tough battle.
Alongside Shved, Errick McCollum stepped up in the second half to score 19 points in total while Greg Monroe hit 11 points and 9 boards.
Khimki trailed by 11 early in the second period but soon that deficit vanished with the help of Janis Timma (8 points) and Shved even though Zenit went to the lockers with a 47-44 advantage thanks to Ponitka. The two teams went neck to neck in the third before Baron took charge to push Zenit’s lead to six points again.
Shved’s experience and brilliancy spoke in the crunch-time, as the visiting side managed to recover many times in the game thanks to his leadership.
“Our last couple of games were close, but we learned from those last minutes and today we played really good. We were down all the time but we showed heart and patience and we controlled the end of the game. You have problems with confidence when you lose so many games, it’s not easy to come back, so I’m happy and we’re getting better”, mentioned coach Rimas Kurtinaitis after the game.
Billy Baron hit 6 out of 9 from the three-point line and finishing the game with 24 points in total but his efforts fell short in crunch time. Austin Hollins also scored 15 points with a major contribution in the first half.
Arturas Gudaitis left the court with 10 points, Mateusz Ponitka had 7 points and 9 rebounds, while Kevin Pangos dished a game-high of 10 assists along with 3 points.
Next on, Khimki will host Anadolu Efes with hopes to turn this win into a streak, while Zenit will look to bounce back against ALBA Berlin and improve its 3-2 record.
Photo: EuroLeague