CSKA Russia defeated VEF Latvia on the road, 102-83 (24-24, 22-23, 30-21, 26-15).
Top Scorers
VEF: Paul Carter (18 + 5 reb + 4 stl), Ken Brown (15), Alex Perez (13)
CSKA: Nikita Kurbanov (18 + 6 reb), Cory Higgins (17), Nando De Colo (14 + 5 reb + 6 ast)
Story
Trailing at the break, 47-46, visiting CSKA scored the first 10 points of the 3rd quarter and never looked back, powering to a 102-83 win in the Latvian capital. CSKA forward Nikita Kurbanov scored a game-high 18 points to go with six rebounds and the Army Men picked up a League-best 16th win.
VEF weathered multiple CSKA second-half runs, despite never leading after Kurbanov’s 3-pointer to open the 3rd quarter.
VEF forward Paul Carter’s triple cut the deficit to five, 84-79, with a little more than five minutes remaining in the 4th quarter.
But the next two possessions were too much to overcome. Needing a bucket, CSKA grabbed multiple offensive boards before Vitaly Fridzon drained a triple, pushing the Army Men’s lead back to eight.
At the other end, Carter fouled out trying to rebound an Alex Perez miss, eliminating VEF’s leading scorer.
By the time the home team scored again, CSKA led by 12, 93-81, leaving no doubt over the outcome.
Moscow was able to turn the game around with defense. After surrendering 47 points in the first half, CSKA only allowed 36 in the second, slowing down a red-hot VEF team that had won four of five entering the contest.
Free-throw shooting and the ability to get VEF into foul trouble was another big key to the game. Both Carter and Mareks Mejeris fouled out for Riga as CSKA scored 30 points at the line, compared to only 14 for VEF.
The loss drops VEF to 5-12, one game back of the final playoff spot with seven games remaining on the schedule. CSKA trails 1st-place UNICS on winning percentage, but boasts two more wins than the Tatar club.
Stat
4 – Leo Westermann’s 3-pointer at the buzzer allowed CSKA to score over 100 points for the 4th time this season (and 2nd game in a row).
Baseline Reverse
Quotes
VEF head coach Janis Gailitis:
– We had a tough opponent today. We played well in the first half, but started poorly in the second. We lost the rebounding battle and committed turnovers. It’s basketball… We were playing against the best team in Europe today, against high-paid players. I wouldn’t say our opponent was taking it easy, either. We had a very difficult time against CSKA. Either way, I’m proud of my players. They played hard.
CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis:
– It’s obvious we had two different halves. We allowed too much to the opponents’ offense in the first half, we let them score 24 points on open looks, offensive rebounds and fast breaks. At halftime we talked about letting them score around 35 points, and we fulfilled the task. We took the game very seriously and had a lot of respect for our opponent. They’ve done a lot of work this season and are battling for a spot in the playoffs. We probably could have played better, if we hadn’t committed some unforced turnovers and missed 13 free throws. But we won by almost 20 points and scored more than 100, and looked to reward the fans with high-scoring basketball.
Up Next
VEF: March 16 home vs. PARMA
CSKA: March 26 home vs. Enisey
Images of the Game
