By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
It’s a well known fact that Crvena Zvezda at home can beat anyone, but nobody expected that kind of a win against CSKA Moscow. The Serbs prevailed with ease as the final score (78-67) proves.
Ognen Kuzmic with his best game yet (16 p. 10 r), Marko Simonovic with 14 points and Charles Jenkins with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists led the charge for the winners. Andrey Vorontsevich with 21 points and Aaron Jackson with 10 were the only CSKA players who scored in double digits.
The game started with an 11-0 run by the hosts, after which coach Dimitris Itoudis changed all five of his players. However the Serbs had the game under control and managed to end the first quarter leading by 13 points (27-20). The reaction of CSKA came with a 10-2 run to start the second period (29-24), but Crvena Zvezda was ready to weather the storm and close the half time leading by 14 points (48-34) with Jenkins scoring all of his 11 points in the first half.
The champs were ready to react, the managed to cut the lead of Zvezda to eight points (64-56) at the end of the third period and to six (64-58) at the start of the last quarter. The game turned into a dog fight and Nate Wolters with a big three gave a breather to the hosts (67-58) with 6,5 minutes left. That shoot proved to be the key. CSKA Moscow could get back into the game and Zvezda managed to get the big home win as the partial score in the last 10 minutes was 14-11 in their favor.