Khimki defeated VEF on the road, 104-90 (21-19, 35-26, 28-24, 20-21).
Top Scorers
VEF: Janis Blums (27), Martins Meiers (20), Mareks Mejeris (12+6 reb), Kristopher Richard (10+6 ast)
Khimki: Marko Todorovic (22+9 reb), Robbie Hummel (20), Alexey Shved (17+5 ast), E.J. Rowland (14+8 ast), Viacheslav Zaitcev (11)
Turning Point
Khimki began to pull away in the 2nd quarter, led by E.J. Rowland and Marko Todorovic. The visitors scored 29 points in a little more than six minutes, including 11 from Todorovic.
Janis Blums tried to keep VEF in it, scoring his team’s first 12 points of the period, but it wasn’t enough. Up by as much as 17 in the quarter, Khimki went into halftime with a 56-45 advantage.
VEF never got closer than 10 the rest of the way, wasting a 27-point performance from Blums.
Khimki improves to 11-3 with the win, half a game behind Lokomotiv for 2nd place. VEF drops to 7-6, remaining in 6th place. Moscow Region also gets revenge for the season-opening loss to VEF at home.
Stat
30-34 – Khimki shot 88% from the line, finishing +19 from the line (VEF was 11-16).
Quotes
VEF head coach Janis Gailitis:
– We started strong, but then we were awful for the next 36 minutes, to put it kindly. You can’t play like that and expect to win against an opponent like Khimki. We played defense like we were at the All-Star Game. We have to look at the film and get better.
Khimki head coach Dusko Ivanovic:
– We started poorly and VEF was in a groove. We made a lot of mistakes on defense. After Rowland entered the game, we got in a rhythm, both on defense and offense. In the end, we were able to earn a victory. It was very important to win since we’re battling for playoff positioning. VEF played well in Khimki and that loss gave us extra motivation. The team played a good game, but it was much more important to keep perfecting our play on offense and defense.
Up Next
VEF: February 5 vs. Zenit
Khimki: February 15 at Avtodor
