By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
A tight contest between the latest two EuroLeague champions ended in CSKA Moscow‘s favor that grabbed the 74-73 victory against Real Madrid to extend its streak to six games in Round 11.
With less than a minute to go, Trey Thompkins forced Shengelia on a five-second violation with CSKA up by two, restoring possession for the visiting team, followed by his three-pointer at the 24-second mark to give them a one-point lead. Mike James had the final say in the game, hitting the game-winner with just two seconds left in the game, while winning a call for a foul and converting the free throw.
James, the enchanted hero of the night, helped the Army Team get on hold of the victory with a clutch-like performance in the fourth period, as he finished the game with a game-high performance of 28 points.
Tornike Shengelia added up 15 points and 7 rebounds for Dimitris Itoudis’ squad and Will Clyburn had 11 points and 8 boards. CSKA completely dominated the boards, as Nikola Milutinov followed with 8 points and 9 rebounds.
“Congratulations to my team. We managed to come out in the second half and hustle more. We outrebounded them, as you can see. We were not very productive in assists, but you know it takes two for assists, the guy who makes the play and the guy who scores. But we found a way. Mike had a very good game and made amazing shots, but all the others supported them amazingly”, mentioned Itoudis after the game.
Thompkins tried to save the day for Pablo Laso’s squad but to no avail, though he added up a team-high with 15 points and 6 rebounds.
In its first game in the post-Campazzo era, Real Madrid had Gabriel Deck scoring 14 points, as Anthony Randolph and Sergio Llull tapped 13 points each.
The Russian side improves to an 8-3 record while Real Madrid will leave Moscow with a 6-5 record.
Photo: EuroLeague