By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The win in the first of two Russian derbies in this regular season of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague belongs to CSKA Moscow after beating Khimki Moscow at home 79-68. The unit coached by Dimitris Itoudis is back to wins after a loss against Olympiacos on Wednesday night, improving their record to an 11-3.
After being down by ten after the first half (43-33) Khimki bounced back in the third quarter. Thanks to Alexey Shved, they cut the lead to one (53-52) with two minutes left on the clock in the third quarter. However, the hosts didn’t allow them to complete the comeback. With a 14-2 run down the last stretch CSKA closed the game in style.
The Russian powerhouse has shown that they can outscore their opponents even without Nando De Colo playing like MVP as the Frenchman scored only 5 points.
The Key: CSKA stepped up when it mattered the most as they ran over Khimki in the fourth quarter (22-13) giving them no room for a comeback.
The Stars: Nikita Kurbanov was the main force tonight doing everything for CSKA. He tied his career-high in points as he had 18 points tonight, but he also had 7 rebounds and 4 assists which were enough for 28 in PIR. His teammate Cory Higgins had also a huge game as he had a career-high finishing the game with 26 points.
Not enough: As usual Khimki’s star Alexey Shved had a game-high with 16 points, but he had 0/6 attempts from the three-point territory.
The Game: CSKA opened the game with a 7-2 run thanks to five quick points by Nikita Kurbanov. The Russian forward was hot in the first quarter scoring 7 points in that period and dominated the low post. Khimki fought back with Alexey Shved who had 8 points the first 10 minutes of action, but it was CSKA with the lead on the end of the first period with 23-16.
At the start of the second quarter, Georgios Bartzokas got a technical foul after protesting to the refs. The home team used that to climb to a 12 points lead (28-16). Once again Kurbanov was dominating the floor finishing the first half with 13 points shooting 3/4 from behind the arc as CSKA built double-digit lead 43-33.
In the second half, Khimki made the comeback, but the home squad was more than ready for it as they had no problems to close the game. With this defeat Khimi is now on an 8-6 record in the Euroleague.
Photo credit: Euroleague