By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Less than a week after finishing fourth in the EuroLeague Final Four, CSKA Moscow entered the VTB League Finals against Unics Kazan visibly eager to defend its title at all cost.
CSKA led as high as 22 points en route to beating Unics Kazan 85 – 77 to take the 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series and claim homecourt advantage.
Will Clyburn finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, Ivan Ukhov had 17 points, Iffe Lundberg scored 16 and Toko Shengelia 14 for CSKA. Daniel Hackett’s 11 points, seven rebounds and six assists complete the puzzle for Dimitris Itoudis’ team.
John Holland (15 points, nine rebounds), John Brown (15 points) and Okaro White (15 points) stood out for Unics that fell behind 35 – 46 at halftime and trailed 47 – 69 near the end of the third period. They attempted a comeback but CSKA held on to get the win.