CSKA defeated Avtodor at home, 95-80 (20-13, 25-22, 21-24, 29-21).
Top Scorers
CSKA: Nando De Colo (24+8 ast), James Augustine (15), Cory Higgins (12), Nikita Kurbanov (12), Milos Teodosic (6+10 ast)
Avtodor: Josh Adams (17), Brendan Frazier (14+8 reb), Evgeny Kolesnikov (14+5 reb), Michael Carrera (14+5 reb)
Turning Point
Avtodor hung around for three and a half quarters, despite playing without star forward Nick Minnerath. The Army Men led by double digits in the 2nd quarter, but Saratov cut the deficit to seven, 66-59, entering the 4th.
With five minutes to go, Michael Carrera got the visitors within six on a layup, 77-71. That’s when CSKA finally took over.
Nando De Colo scored four quick points, then James Augustine’s three-point play pushed the lead to 12, 84-72.
The home team went on to win by 15, improving to a league-best 14-1. Avtodor drops to 5-10, a game back of Astana for the final playoff spot.
Stat
24 – Avtodor committed a season-high 24 turnovers.
Quotes
CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis:
– Congratulations to the team on another win. Obviously, I tried to get Milos and Viktor, who returned from injuries, back in the rotation. In general, I saw what I wanted to see. Avtodor, as expected, played aggressively and competed with us. At the same time, we missed a lot of shots from the perimeter, even though we created them and believed in them.
Avtodor head coach Vladimir Antsiferov:
– We were playing without our big men today. We could have been better with them. But CSKA could have played better too. We were a little nervous at first, then we gathered ourselves and found our rhythm. We tried to battle to the end, but we made too many big mistakes, both on defense and offense. Congratulations to CSKA on the win.
Up Next
CSKA: February 16 at Zenit
Avtodor: February 15 vs. Khimki
