CSKA Russia defeated VEF Latvia at home, 92-66 (30-11, 20-23, 23-18, 19-14).
Top Scorers
CSKA: Joel Bolomboy (14 + 6 reb), Mikhail Kulagin (14 + 5 ast), Sergio Rodriguez (11 + 5 ast + 3 stl), Daniel Hackett (11 + 5 reb + 3 stl)
VEF: Arturs Ausejs (16), Andris Misters (13), Kristaps Janicenoks (11)
Story
The home team wasted no time taking control, going on a 15-0 run midway through the 1st quarter that made it 24-5 after seven minutes of play.
The visitors shot a miserable 21% from the field in the opening period (4-19) and never really recovered from their disastrous start.
Leading 30-11 at the end of the quarter, CSKA was able to distribute playing time evenly–Joel Bolomboy played a team-high 24 minutes–and keep VEF’s offense in check the rest of the way.
The lone bright spot for Riga came right before halftime. Trailing by 26, VEF went on a 10-0 run to close the half, capped by a 3-point buzzer-beater from Andris Misters.
ВЭФ закрывает первую половину матча против ЦСКА рывком 10-0 и трехочковым баззером!@vefriga closes 1st Half vs @cskabasket with 10-0 run and 3-PT Buzzer! pic.twitter.com/n3YFCLa4o6
— VTB United League (@VTBUL) January 6, 2019
But the Army Men left no doubt in the 3rd quarter, leading by as much as 26 to ensure victory.
Bolomboy and Mikhail Kulagin led the home team with 14 points apiece, while Arturs Ausejs scored a game-high 16 points for the visitors.
CSKA improves to a League-best 12-0 with the victory. VEF, on the other hand, remains stuck in last place with a 2-11 record and time running out on the season.
Riga, the first team in the League to play 13 games, will need a remarkable turnaround in the second half of the season to have any shot at sniffing the playoffs.
Stat
17 – VEF pulled down more offensive rebounds (17) than defensive rebounds (15), an unusual accomplishment.
Alley-Oop
Отелло Хантер завершает аллей-уп от Михаила Кулагина СЛЭМОМ!
Othello Honter finishes Mike Kulagin’s alley-oop with the SLAM! pic.twitter.com/co5jIJoTsO
— VTB United League (@VTBUL) January 6, 2019
Quotes
CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis: “Congratulations to everyone on the Christmas holiday. Today is Christmas Eve in Russia and many other countries. As for the game, we played very focused from the start. We set the tone for the game on defense. We had problems with turnovers and offensive rebounds. We’ll work on that. Overall, we did what we were supposed to do. We didn’t forget about the upcoming “double” week in the EuroLeague and let some players rest and spread out the playing time on the court. Thank you to the fans. There were almost 3,000 here and their support helped us. Misha Kulagin knocked knees and felt some pain. So far, we don’t think anything serious happened. Misha told me after the game everything was fine. I hope to see him at practice tomorrow.”
VEF head coach Janis Gailitis: “Congratulations to CSKA on the win. We started poorly, but then we played better in some situations. The guys played hard and grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and displayed good ball movement. We wanted to have at least some positives from this game. We will assess what happened and play better in the future.”
Photos
