By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Alexey Shved notched five triples on his way to game-high 24 points leading Khimki Moscow Region to an 87-72 home win against Herbalife Gran Canaria in Round 5 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Both teams now hold a 1-4 record.
Shved also drew seven fouls and dished seven assists although he had six turnovers as well. Tony Crocker helped with 17 in addition to Anthony Gill’s 15 points while Charles Jenkins added ten.
Nobody scored in double-digits for Gran Canaria as Anzejs Pasecniks and DJ Strawberry were the closest to it with nine points each. Pasecniks was, in fact, the one with game-high 26 PIR as he also grabbed nine rebounds and three steals.
Although no points were scored in the first minute of the game, both sides quickly picked up the pace. It was a tie at 16 when Khimki found a way to some easy fastbreak points making a 9-0 run. Interestingly, the guests waited for the tenth minute of the game to make their first foul.
Gran Canaria closed the gap a bit (29-25) but the hosts took over completely led by Shved’s 16 points as they banked five triples in the second quarter to eventually go on the halftime rest with a big 49-33 lead.
Khimki continued moving the ball after the break, creating open shots and shooting in high percentages as Gran Canaria couldn’t find an answer for it defensively. The lead kept increasing to as much as 28 points (83-55) leaving no doubt about the outcome although the Spaniards managed to soften the blow in the end.
The coach of the winning side Georgios Bartzokas was proud of his squad as they managed to bounce back after two tough losses: “We were concentrated for most of the game on defense, and when we had patience and good execution we could score easily. We didn’t play for the full 40 minutes but I can’t complain, because it was our first win and we deserved it. Everyone remembers how we lost our last two games but we’ve got our first win now and we have to keep going. The last quarter we stopped playing but that was just a human adjustment, you can say, because we were nearly 30 points up.”
Photo Credit: BC Khimki