By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Mike James lifted CSKA Moscow to an 81-72 victory against visiting Lokomotiv Kuban in the VTB League with his 22-point performance.
James led multiple players scoring in double-digits, including Janis Timma (11 points), Andrey Vorontsevich and Darrun Hilliard (10 points).
CSKA, that moved to a 5-2 record, saw head coach Dimitris Itoudis being ejected with a double technical in the final period, as Andreas Pistiolis took head coach duties until the end.
Coach Itoudis addressed the issue in the press conference: “Congratulations to the team, assistant coaches, everybody who had my back. We showed toughness, we played against a very good opponent, they are ambitious and wanted to grab the win. Still we were better for most of the game and deserved to win. Unfortunately, we have to talk about this situation that need to be investigated, it requires the attention of lawyers, sports or in general. At the moment I was talking to the Vice President of the club, I did not refer to the referees on the second technical foul. I don’t know where they found a right to call it. I was asking why – nobody answered. It needs to be addressed by lawyers, because it was a call against the image of the club, against the image of the head coach”.
At the same time, Austin Hollins led Zenit St. Peterburg to an 89-80 win over Enisey with a team-high performance of 21 points. Zenit snapped back from its losing streak and moved up to a 3-4 record.
Earlier in the day, UNICS Kazan (3-3) defeated Nizhny Novgorod 89-85, with Reymar Morgan posting 30 points and Errick McCollum adding 20 points to the winning squad.