CSKA Moscow beat Lokomotiv-Kuban at home – 81:72 (16:14, 19:17, 24:21, 22:20)
Top scorers
CSKA: Mike James (22), Janis Strelnieks (11), Andrey Vorontsevich (10 + 7 rebounds).
Lokomotiv-Kuban: Will Cummings (19), Mantas Kalnietis (15), Johnny O’Bryant (12).
Story
CSKA (4-2) and Lokomotiv-Kuban (3-1) paced up after a bad start. Moscow won 3 games straight with 100 plus points each time. Krasnodar outplayed UNICS and Zenit after a loss in Kazakhstan. Loko also scored a lot (87 points per game — 3rd place this season).
In the first half, it seemed like not League’s top scoring teams. CSKA and Loko were careful and cautious with gradual runs – 16:14 after the first 10 minutes. It was only in the middle of the second period when CSKA managed to heat things up. Darrun Hilliard made free throws, Mike James converted the and-one, and Johannes Voigtmann made a three-pointer – 35:25 and 2 minutes before the breal. Loko answered with a successful defense and the first two 3-pointers. Mantas Kalnietis sank one in a fast break, and then Dmitriy Kulagin with a buzzer – 35:31 for CSKA.
The Army club continued after the break. Three long range shots from James in 2 minutes (48:37) got them a comfortable lead of 10 points. Nonetheless, Johnny O’Bryant and Will Cummings finished the third quarter with a hope for Loko to come back – 52:59.
Key moment
Thanks to O’Bryant-Cummings duo Loko retained chances, plus Dimitris Itoudis got a techincal foul. Krasnodar almost caught their rivals (66:70, 70:72 in 3 minutes to the end of regulation), but couldn’t turn the tables. Loko’s crucial attacks were finished with two missed three-pointers by Kulagin and an offensive foul by Alan Williams. CSKA, to the contrary, found a player to take over the game. James hit 5 points in a row to regain a comfortable margin (79:72) and avoid the nervous clutch.
The Army club jumped to the second place in standings dropping Loko down. Kuban is now ranked fourth.
Debut
Kosta Koufos recovered from the injury and played the firs VTB League game for CSKA. Ex-NBA player started the game and scored 7 points and 9 rebounds within 18 minutes.
Stat
14. CSKA’s lead in rebounds (47-33 and 22:11 in second chance points). Both teams lead the rebounds in League, but tonight the Red-blues dominated the glass.
Hero
Mike James. Despite 6 turnovers, the guard was the most efficient in CSKA (19 points). James made 7 of 12 field goals (22 points), 4 rebounds and 4 assists. His baskets motivated the team for crucial runs one of which decided the game.
Comment
CSKA Assistant to the head coach Andreas Pistiolis:
Congratulations to our players. It was hard, because we played the second game in three days. Unfortunately, I must give the official comment as coach Itoudis was disqualified. It’s crucial that we won the rebounds, that’s what we prepared for. The players executed the defensive plan perfectly even though we didn’t have much time to prepare. Anyway, this battle is won by the players, and it’s a victory over a strong opponent. We keep going, we’ve got Fenerbahce to play.
Lokomotiv-Kuban head coach Luca Banchi:
The game was really intense. From the very beginning we fought against Europe’s best team. At some stages, we lacked stability, aggression and accuracy in key moments. I didn’t expect this much fan support from people who came from Krasnodar. They helped a lot, and we played bravely to make the fans happy. Too bad we couldn’t win. We need to be more stable at this level. Our shots were not the best tonight, but we faced one of the best defenses of Europe. But even here we could find better spots to shoot.
What’s next
CSKA: November 25 vs Nizhny Novgorod
Lokomotiv-Kuban: November 17 vs Kalev
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