CSKA beat Avtodor on the road — 102:75 (23:16, 24:21, 31:20, 24:18).
The best scorers
Avtodor: Ryan Boatwright (18 + 6 assists), Brandon Garrett (12 + 6 rebounds), Rade Zagorac (11 + 8 rebounds), Nikita Mikhailovskii (10 + 6 rebounds)
CSKA: Nikola Milutinov (16 + 8 rebounds), Alexey Shved (15), Livio Jean-Charles (14 + 5 rebounds), Casper Ware (13 + 6 assists), Anton Astapkovich (12)
Game progress
In Saratov, Avtodor played against CSKA equally. So Saratov fans hoped that the team would be able to have a battle with the Moscow team.
The teams chose different strategies for the game. In the first quarter, the Army team dominated actively using their bigmen and forced the opponent to foul a lot. Semen Antonov and Nikola Milutinov scored 14 points, letting their team to lead. Avtodor faced with CSKA tight defence in the paint and forced to focus on long-range shots. Rada Zagorac, Ryan Boatwright, Nikita Mikhailovskii and Aleksandr Petenev left Avtodor in the game with the three-pointers. The Moscow team had 7 points lead after the first quarter – 23:16.
In the second quarter, the Saratov team managed to start run and gun strategy. In fast basketball, neither side had an advantage. Anton Astapkovich, Alexey Shved and Nikola Milutinov helped their team a lot. Ryan Boatwright was the key player for the Saratov team. CSKA managed to increase their lead, but 10 points at the end of the first half still did not guarantee the win – 47:37.
The third quarter began with another CSKA run. Milutinov and Ware started the guests run with made shots and Shved secured it with two three-pointers. The difference reached 20 points — 59:39. In response to this, the Volga team started to play better in offense, but without defense they could not make a comeback. Both teams scored a lot in such a fast game. The Army team calmly held a comfortable lead throughout the second half, which allowed them to bring the game to a confident win.
Hero
Alexey Shved spent surprisingly less time on the floor – only 19 minutes. But at the key moments he led the team. Two threes from Shved formed the basis of CSKA decisive run in the third quarter. In total Shved made 5 of 7 shots from the game (three–pointers – 4 of 5), scored 15 points and had 4 assists.
Numbers
102 is the third game this season (out of five) where CSKA players score more than 100 points.
What’s next
Avtodor: road game versus PARMA-PARI on October 27
CSKA: home game against Enisey on October 27.
