By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Cory Higgins scored 20 out of his season-high 24 points in the last 15 minutes of the game, leading CSKA Moscow to a 93 – 88 victory over Real Madrid on the road, in a rematch of last season’s EuroLeague semifinal (albeit with a different finale).
This result keeps CSKA Moscow, that was without former Real player Sergio Rodriguez, at the top of the EuroLeague standings with a 9 – 1 record. Meanwhile, Real suffered its second loss in a row in the third consecutive game minus Sergio Llull, and dropped to 2-8.
“We lost our composure in the second quarter. We were scoreless for seven minutes. But we realized how to play in the third quarter. We came out strong. And we controlled most of the second half. We hustled more,” CSKA Moscow head coach Dimitris Itoudis said in his post-game flash interview.
Itoudis had in mind the meltdown of CSKA following an electric, 3 – 17 entrance, since Real came back from down 14 points to close halftime up 41 – 38 thanks to Facu Campazzo taking charge (and also hitting a crazy first-quarter buzzer beater).
The second half though was a different scenario. With the score 47 – 42, Higgins, Will Clyburn (18 points, six rebounds), and Nando De Colo (15 points, five assists) turned up the offensive to propel CSKA into scoring 25 points in almost seven minutes to enter the fourth quarter up by 10, 57 – 67.
The Russian team proceeded to preserve a lead around double figures thanks also to some lethal 3-point shooting (15/26) and “locked” the win when De Colo made it 80 – 90 with 40 seconds remaining. Campazzo made some difficult buckets in the final plays which made no difference in the result but allowed him to register a career-high 23 points.
Rudy Fernandez (15 points) and Felipe Reyes (10 points, five rebounds) also scored in double-digit numbers for Real.