By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Despite a new career-high by Mike James with a monstrous 37-point performance, Valencia Basket outlasted a nerve-wracking battle against CSKA Moscow at home and bounced back with a 105-103 double OT win on Thursday for Round 24 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. The Spanish team recovered from a three-game losing streak to move up to a 12-12 record.
Klemen Prepelic and Nikola Kalinic hit 22 points respectively to power the Spanish side to the win, Martin Hermansson tapped 17 and Bojan Dubljevic added 14 points.
“It was a great win for us. Two overtimes, it was a really amazing game. We are a little disappointed we lost the last couple of games and we weren’t at the same level of energy and focus. But okay, maybe this is a turnaround. We got an incredible victory. Everybody played great and gave 100 percent. Game by game, who knows”, commented Kalinic.
After a 45-minute battle, the hosts showed their strength and managed to keep CSKA at bay, despite James’ career-high night. A steal by Hermannsson with Valencia up by two in the last 24 seconds sealed the deal for the hosts to reach the win.
The hosts took crippled CSKA by storm in the first half (47-43, 20′), though the Army Team recovered in the third period to grab the lead for the first time in the game (61-56). Prepelic hit back-to-back baskets to restore Valencia’s lead and the hosts kept up their momentum for an 8-2 run early in the fourth quarter.
With CSKA at the helm, Mike Tobey (9 points) rejected a possible game-winner by Mike James then evened the score to 84 points to send the game to overtime, though none of the teams could secure a safe lead, as Martin Hermannsson was the one to send the game to its second OT.
Johannes Voigtmann posted 19 and Nikita Kurbanov had 17 for CSKA, which traveled to Spain missing both Nikola Milutinov and Tornike Shengelia and struggled to contain Valencia, losing its second straight game to fall to a 16-8 record.
Photo: EuroLeague