By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Brandon Brown put on a show as Nizhny Novgorod grabbed a 75-72 home win against Iberostar Tenerife, handing them their first loss in Basketball Champions League this season.
Brown nailed 26 points on 9-13 shooting while adding five assists, four steals and two rebounds. He also scored four points down the stretch to overcome Tenerife’s comeback.
Anton Astapkovich and Artem Komolov added 12 points each while for Tenerife, Giorgi Shermadini logged 19 points (8-10 FG), seven boards and six assists. Alex Lopez helped with 13 and Sasu Salin with ten points.
Nizhny improved to 5-3 in Group C while Tenerife, which didn’t have Marcelinho Huertas and Gabriel Lundberg for this game, now holds a 7-1 record.
Tenerife started the game better (16-9) but the hosts recovered led by Brown who banked all five of his shots (3-3 threes) for 15 points in the first half as Nizhny grabbed a 44-40 lead.
The Russian squad kept going after the break and had a 69-62 lead with five minutes mark but “it’s not over ’till it’s over” when facing Tenerife. The Spaniards drained eight straight points led by Shermadini to take over the lead (70-69) but Nizhny managed to stay calm and prevail in the thrilling finish.
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League