By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
CSKA Moscow continues its reign into the new Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season after grabbing their ninth straight victory (100-65) against visiting Anadolu Efes in Round 14 to start the double-game week on a thrilling note.
The Army Team moves up to an 11-4 record after managing to keep Shane Larkin at bay, in a marquee matchup against November MVP Mike James. Larkin exited the floor with 4 points in 17 minutes for the Turkish side.
CSKA reached 20-point leads after the halftime break and never looked back, expanding even further as Dimitris Itoudis took full advantage of his rotation.
“We were very determined, very focused and all the players deserve congratulations. We were dominant. We actually played in the first half great defense on their key players and [Krunoslav] Simon and [Bryant] Dunston] were very effective in the first half. We had to change several ways of defending them, but I think in the third quarter we came out strong and in the fourth and we pretty much established the status quo we wanted”, explained the CSKA boss after the game.
Will Clyburn was the leading scorer of the hosts and finished the game with 22 points, Darrun Hilliard – whose efforts played a key role in the first half – added 16 points and five rebounds, while James left the court with 11 points, 10 assists and five rebounds. Nikola Milutinov added up to the list of top scorers with 12 points and 9 rebounds.
Efes lost its third straight game after a shocking defeat in Valencia last week, falling to a 7-7 record. Vasilije Micic led Ergin Ataman’s squad with 14 points and Bryant Dunston posted 13 points along with 7 rebounds.
Next on, CSKA will look to extend its streak to 10 games against Zenit on Friday, while Efes will look to bounce back against Olimpia Milano on Thursday.
Photo: EuroLeague