By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The grand favorites did credit to this…. unofficial title of theirs, showing their quality and superiority against the underdog that fought well, yet could not match its opponents’ strength. CSKA Moscow became the first team to advance in the 2016 Euroleague Final Four tournament in Berlin after beating Crvena Zvezda 78 – 71 in Belgrade, thus sweeping the series.
Although Nando De Colo was the first scorer of the Russians with 20 points, most of the decisive baskets in the last fifteen minutes of the game came from the hands of Milos Teodosic (12 points, 7 assists, but also 7 turnovers), Aaron Jackson (6 points) and Cory Higgins (8 points, 9 rebounds). The first two were combined for 12 points that helped CSKA transform the 42-43 that was written on the boxscore at the mid of the third period, into 47 – 59 in less than six minutes.
But Crvena Zvezda refused to give up, becoming dangerous thanks to big plays by Marko Simonovic (7 points, all in the fourth quarter) and Quincy Miller (15 points, 5 rebounds) who brought their team incredibly close once again. That was the moment when Higgins appeared, scoring five crucial points in the last minutes, that preserved a steady lead for his team and thwarted back the hosts’ final push. Then De Colo finished the job first with a downtown “dagger” and then with a two-pointer that made it 70 – 78, 40 seconds before the end of the game.
With their loud fans infusing them with large dozes of energy, Red Star did not go down without a fight. They even held the lead for a large part of the first half, which ended 35 – 36. After their opponents went ahead of the score with double-digit numbers in the third period, they made one valiant comeback attempt, but then CSKA was simply too good from behind the arc and too determined to let victory slip by its hands.