CSKA downed Kalev on the road – 91:50 (31:10, 20:16, 23:14, 17:10).
Top scorers
Kalev: Kyle Vinales (14)
CSKA: Daniel Hackett (13), Joel Bolomboy (12), Andrey Vorontsevich (10+5 rebounds)
Story
The hosts currently ranked 6th are trying to stay in the race for playoffs. CSKA set higher goals trying to catch Khimki. The Red-blues used their full force from the very beginning. Kristjan Kitsing made a three-pointer on the fourth minute, which was followed by a long scoreless period. The next time Kalev scored was the end of the quarter. Meanwhile, CSKA used their chances and built a double-digit lead (21 points) by the end of the first quarter – 31:10.
Kalev couldn’t recover from this schock. In the second quarter Tallinn levelled the game, downed the tempo, but CSKA allowed them only to stay in 20-points distance. In the third quarter, the guests added another run and with shots of Daniel Hackett, Andrey Vorontsevich and Janis Strelnieks the Army club reached 35-ponts lead – 68:33. CSKA increased the gap in the final quarter to get their 9th win of the season.
Hero
Joel Bolomboy. The big man was highly efficient in the final quarter where he scored 10 of his 12 points.
Stat
5000 spectators is Kalev’s new club attendance record in the United League. The last record was set at the home game against CSKA as well. 4 900 spectators in Tallinn in December 2018.
Comment
Kalev head coach Roberts Stelmahers:
“I want to apologize for the result, of course, we didn’t want like this. We were so happy to see so many spectators and maybe it was a little bit stressful for players. We know we can play better, but it wasn’t our day. It’s hard to play against CSKA in full strength.”
CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis:
“Obviously I want to congratulate my team. We were very serious and played serious game – offensively and defensively. We deserved the win and we were dominant in this game. Also my second task was trying to play the time, because we had a triple game week (trip-game, trip-game, trip-game). So I think we managed the week perfectly.”
Next
Kalev: January 5, vs Zielona Gora
CSKA: December 28, at Tsmoki-Minsk
Photo
