By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Five players scored in double figures as Crvena Zvezda routed Khimki Moscow 90 – 78 in a manner much easier than what the final score shows. It was the second win in six matches for Red Star in EuroLeague and loss no. 2 for the Russian side.
Borisa Simanic dropped a career-high 18 points, Billy Baron added 17 while Stratos Perperoglou pitched in 15 points and five rebounds. James Gist had 12 points and seven boards and Lorenzo Brown 10 points plus seven assists for a Red Star team that dominated the third period 30 – 15 to reach the first moments of the final quarter with an 83 – 56 lead.
It was too much for Khimki that just managed to make the margin a bit more presentable in the end. Alexey Shved had 14 points (0/6 triples), five rebounds and four assists, Anthony Gill a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds and Devin Booker 13 points.
” feel very good because I see that my team, that each guy was wishing hard to win this game after the difficult period that we had and this desire brought us energy in the first and we repeated it in the second half. It was two emotional ups and downs and I think this is the reason. Borisa Simanic wanted it very hard and he came out with confidence and he helped a lot to open the game the way we wanted,” Red Star interim head Andrija Gavrilovic said after his first EuroLeague win at this post.
Two minutes into the game, Zvezda saw captain Branko Lazic getting ejected after a scuffle with Janis Timma.
Baron just kept shooting
It took Billy Baron less than 18 minutes to drop his 17 points on 3/4 triples while coming into the match with 1/10 3-pointers in the two previous games. Following the match, he talked about how his teammates helped him reclaim his form.
“I feel good. My teammates trusted me. It’s been a while since I had my rhythm, it feels like forever. My teammates have always told me to shoot; they think I don’t shoot enough. So I’m thankful for my teammates and their belief in me.”