CSKA beat Pari Nizhny Novgorod at home despite Nizhny 16-point comeback – 76:75 (21:8, 16:21, 21:18, 18:28).
Game progress
Nizhny Novgorod continues to battle with Lokomotiv Kuban for the home court advantage in the playoffs. A win against CSKA would guarantee the fourth place. For CSKA, winners of the regular season, the game was important for practice their tactics.
The first quarters made it clear why the Army team intends to win this game. CSKA’s defense handled Pari NN’s offense perfectly. In the first 8 minutes, the Moscow team allowed to score only 4 points and responded with 20. However, the home team was unable to maintain a comfortable lead. In the second quarter, the Volga team noticeably accelerated on offense and defense. Jermaine Love activity (7 straight points) and 2 three-pointers by Dmitriy Khvostov allowed Pari Nizhny Novgorod to go into the second quarter trailing by just 8 points – 37:29.
The third quarter began again with Emil Rajkovic team run, which helped to regain a double-digit lead. Evgenii Baburin kept the game intriguing with a three-pointer – 58:47.
Key moment
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the hosts increased the lead to 13 points, but Nizhny Novgorod took the control of the game. Zoran Lukic team doubled the pace, improving defense, while Jermaine Love scored almost every shot. His 11 points in a row cut the difference to almost nothing. But that was only the beginning: a few minutes later, Love made another 7-point run and a three-pointer to give the guests the lead – 71:70.
Still, the Army team experience and class helped. Casper Ware, who had been in Nikola Milutinov’s shadow most of the game, took advantage of Pari NN poor defense and made an important three-pointer with just over 30 seconds left to play – 74-72.
Pari Nizhny Novgorod still had a chance to save the game, but Jermaine Love missed his shot. Artem Komolov took a rebound and was fouled. Jermaine Love also missed last shot of the game. CSKA gets the 29th win of the season and the battle for 4th place continues.
Key factor
CSKA defense and rebounding dominance in the first quarter. The Army team allowed only eight points to its opponents, while outscoring them four times in collected rebounds, 16-4. It was the first-quarter lead that allowed CSKA to hold on to its hard-fought win.
Fact
Jermaine Love set the League season high with 34 points. Angelo Warner had the season high so far with 32 points. Jermaine Love scored more than 30 points for the first time this season.
Leaders
CSKA: Nikola Milutinov (20 + 6 rebounds), Casper Ware (13 + 5 assists), Livio Jean-Charles (11), Samson Ruzhentsev (10)
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: Jermaine Love (34), Dmitriy Khvostov (13)
Next games
CSKA: home game against Lokomotiv-Kuban on March 26
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: home game versus MBA on March 25
