By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
CSKA Moscow had to work until the final seconds and the “Army Team” got rewarded with the 93-90 road win against ALBA Berlin.
Johannes Voightmann with 16 points was the top scorer of the winning side, Will Clyburn added 15 and Toko Shengelia had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“It was very intense, right from the jump. We tried to set the tone to be aggressive defensively and offensively. ALBA matched our aggressiveness and played really well. But I believe today we were the better team”, Shengelia said.
With five minutes left the score was tied at 82, after a game which was pretty much even from wire to wire even if ALBA had a 58-51 lead during the third period.
However, what followed was a 9-2 CSKA run (91-84), but the game was not over. ALBA’s answer was a three by Oscar Da Silva and Johannes Thiemann added one made free throw (91-88), as the Germans tried to get back in the game.
Johannes Voigtmann was called for an offensive foul with 11 seconds left and the Germans had one last chance to send the game to overtime.
Maodo Lo was fouled and made two free throws (91-90), Alexey Shved returned the favor in the exact same way (93-90) and with six seconds left Da Silva and Marcus Errikson missed two threes and the chance to tie the game.
Lo finished the game with 26 points, seven asssists and also five turnovers, while Errikson scored 18 points as ALBA dropped to 5-11.
On the other hand, CSKA has a solid 10-6 record. As coach Dimitris Itoudis said: “Congratulations to the team and the players, after a short turnaround time and after a not-good performance, they came here and played a very competitive game. It could have gone another way and it would have been well-deserved because ALBA played really well. They hit some big shots, especially in the third quarter. They were dominant. We did not lose our composure. The players kept believing and regardless of what defense we played, we gave it all. So, they deserve the congratulations.”