By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Obviously affected by the absences of Nando De Colo and Milos Teodosic, CSKA Moscow (27-2) got a bit of a scare against Tsmoki in Minsk, but in the end won the game. Two key free throws by Cory Higgins and one masterful defense by Kyle Hines, sealed the victory for coach Itoudis’ players who learned some lessons that will be of good use to the Euroleague playoffs, without paying the price.
Earlier, Unics Kazan (23-4) delivered excellence on both ends of court during the third quarter, bringing Lokomotiv Kuban (19-7) down and locking the second place in the standings. Khimki (19-8) was fiery (13/27) from downtown and strong as granite inside the paint thanks to Josh Boone, to pass victorious from Riga vs VEF (9-18).
Despite Dmitry Khvostov’s (28 p.) huge efforts, Zenit (17-7) pushed back Nizhny Novgord (16-11) to remain fourth in the standings.
VTB League 2015/2016 – 3/4
Tsmoki Minsk – CSKA Moscow (Andrey Vorontsevich 16 p. 6 r. 4 a.) : 81 – 83
Unics Kazan (Keith Langford 20 p. 6 r.) – Lokomotiv Kuban: 80 – 76
Avtodor Saratov (Paul Stoll 16 p. 10 a.) – Krasny Oktyabr: 102 – 95
VEF Riga – Khimki Moscow (Josh Boone 16 p. 12 r.) : 79 – 89
Enisey (David Kennedy 18 p. 15 r. 6 a.) – Kalev Tallinn: 97 – 90
Zenit St. Petersburg (Janis Timma 19 p.) – Nizhny Novgorod: 77 – 76