By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
It wasn’t easy, but after the final buzzer, CSKA Moscow got one more win this time over Bayern Munich. The final score was 77-70 for the hosts who needed a big 16-4 run on the final stretch of the game in order to build a 16-point lead (75-64) and get the job done for their 14th victory in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague this season.
Will Clyburn with 20 points and Joel Bolomboy with nine were the most important players during this run. To be exact Bolomboy scored all his points during the last quarter and proved to be a key factor on the court.
“Joel [Bolomboy] came deep from the bench and gave us the extra boost that we wanted“, said CSKA coach Dimitris Itoudis after the game. “Definitely that three-point turnover, the psychology of the team, the whole conception after the 0-8 start was about fighting and defending and making stops. And I think we have to be proud of it. I told you [at halftime] that we have to be proud of how we came back in the game. Even though we were not up, we were losing by 2, we found a way to come back“.
The hosts entered the last period leading by five (57-52), but in the end, CSKA was simply too much for them.
Nihad Djedovic and Petteri Koponen scored 12 points for the guests, the same number that Daniel Hackett scored for the winners. Koponen also reached the milestone of 1000 points in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, but couldn’t celebrate it with a win.
Bayern started the game leading by seven at the end of the first period (20-13) and kept that lead for 30 minutes, despite the efforts of CSKA to get close. However, everything changed in the crucial last period.
The last of Bayern for an upset come with 33 seconds left when Derrick Williams made two free throws and made it a five-point game (75-70). In the next possession, Hackett answered with two free throws and sealed the outcome for CSKA.
Bayern dropped to a 9-10 record, good enough for the 7th spot of the standings for the moment.
Photo credit: EuroLeague