By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Nando De Colo was on fire as he led CSKA Moscow to an 84-77 road win over Kirolbet Baskonia in EuroLeague playoffs. With this win, CSKA is now ahead 2-1 in the series.
De Colo nailed 28 points (4-6 triples) while adding five assists, two rebounds and a steal for total PIR of 32. Cory Higgins scored 11 points in addition to Will Clyburn and Kyle Hines’ ten points and seven boards each.
As De Colo said after the game: “We were much better than the last game for sure. It’s what we wanted, to play this kind of game and we reacted pretty well from the last one. Basketball is not a one-player game. Tonight we did the job all together like we did all season. We need to work on it and everybody is going to step up.”
For Baskonia, Vincent Poirier logged 34 PIR with a double-double of 19 points and 15 boards while Darrun Hilliard scored 13 and Johannes Voigtmann 12 points.
CSKA kicked off strong and were nailing most of their shots to go ahead 31-18 early in the second quarter. Although they banked seven triples led by De Colo’s 12 points, Baskonia stayed alive in the first half (46-39) thanks to Poirier who was already on the verge of a double-double with ten points and nine boards while Hilliard added 13 points.
De Colo continued carrying the Russian team while Poirier did the same on for the Spanish side with help from Voigtmann. Baskonia managed to recover from a nine-point deficit (54-45) and tie the game at 67 early in the fourth quarter but CSKA made a 10-4 run which turned out to be crucial as they went on to win the game.