By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
CSKA Moscow got the 87-78 road win against a feisty LDLC ASVEL, however, nobody was in the mood to celebrate. Will Clyburn left the floor hobbling at the start of the last quarter with a left leg injury.
Clyburn lost almost the entire last season after an ACL injury on the right knee and while this time he got hurt on the other leg, everyone is worried about his condition.
As coach Dimitris Itoudis said, speaking about health: “Even though we are short-handed today – without Daniel [Hackett] and Joel Bolomboy and Janis Strelnieks couldn’t help us- all the players who could help us and were healthy did. During the game, there was a lot of hustle. We outhustled them. And I’m proud that we came out in the third and fourth quarters and won those two quarters, and we deserved to win. Another good fight.”
Mike James with 31 points had one more great night, Nikola Milutinov finished the night with a double-double (17 p. 14 r.) and Toko Shengelia added 13 points. Still, the hosts were close almost until the end, trailing just by six points (66-60) after the third quarter.
With less than five minutes left ASVEL made it a four-point game (76-72) but CSKA answered with a 7-0 run and the game was over. Guerschon Yabusele with 16 points was the top scorer of the losing side.
“It was an important win for us”, said Milutinov. “They are a good team. They have quality offensively. Especially at home, it’s difficult to beat them. But tonight we controlled the game. We led the whole game and we deserved to win.”
The Russian club remains on top of the league standings with a 13-3 record, while ASVEL dropped to 5-10.
Photo credit: CSKA Moscow