Writing from Berlin: Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
No ghosts any more. CSKA Moscow, Nando De Colo and Milos Teodosic are on the throne of Europe. The “army team” beat Fenerbahce 101-96 after overtime as the former “student” of Zeljko Obradovic, Dimitris Itoudis got the biggest win of his career, leading CSKA Moscow to the 7th trophy of its history.
It was a close game, decided on details. CSKA Moscow made its free throws when it counted and despite the fact that once more lost a big lead in a crucial game, thanks to its captain Victor Khryapa send the game to overtime and avoided one more Final Four suicide. De Colo finished the game with 22 points and 7 assists, Teodosic had 19 points and 7 assists and Kyle Hines added 15 points.
Bobby Dixon with 17 points, Luigi Datome (16 p.), Ekpe Udoh (16p., 11 r.) and Kostas Sloukas (10 p.) did their best for Fenerbahce, they come back after trailing by 20 points, however they couldn’t get the win.
The game started with a close first period and CSKA Moscow having a 22-20 lead, but then things changed. CSKA scored 24 points in the next six minutes, thanks to an amazing Teodosic, De Colo was also there and Cory Higgins proved to be the wildcard. This was the trio that made things happened in offense, while Hines made sure than Fenerbahce couldn’t score in the paint.
The second period ended with a partial score 28-10 and CSKA Moscow got a 50-30 half time lead. It was time for Fenerbahce to react, but couldn’t do much as CSKA entered the last period with a 69-53 advantage. Until this point, Jan Vesely had 7 points on 1 out of 10 free throws.
Still the pressure continued and Ekpe Udoh was the key factor who changed the momentum. Fenerbahce cut CSKA’s lead to 8 points (74-66) with five minutes left in the game and Udoh scoring 8 points in the come back, playing on the same time stellar defense. The tables were turned and thanks to two free throws by Pero Antic after a big three by Luigi Datome Fenerbahce was trailing by six points (71-77).
The Final Four ghosts of CSKA were back and Bobby Dixon with five straight points made it a one point game (79-78) with less than two minutes left. Higgins missed a three, Fenerbahce couldn’t score but Teodosic with an amazing assist to Nando De Colo gave a three points advantage to CSKA (81-78).
It was not enough. Bobby Dixon tied the game at 81 with 40 seconds left and then Nando De Colo made a crucial turnover. He lost the ball, Sloukas was fouled. The Greek guard made his free throws (83-81) and Victor Khryapa after a missed shot by De Colo tied the game (83-83) and the result was overtime. In the extra five minutes CSKA Moscow secured a seven points lead (97-90) with 40 seconds left after two straigh missed shots of Fenerbahce, it proved to be enough.