Khimik wins Ukraine Superleague

The first post Crimean Crisis Ukraine Superleague was decided tonight as Khimik Opz Yuzhny won the league with a dominating 81-41 victory over Dnipro. The victory marked the first time the club has been the champion of Ukraine Basketball, stopping Dnipro from winning its inaugural title in the process.

As the score suggests, Khimk was simply the better team, dominating the hardwood with clinical scoring and mean defence in the paint. The game was still in touch through halftime, but in the second half the new champions exploded and restricted Dnipro to just 14 points the entire half. Indeed, Dnipro’s field percentage was woeful throughout, sitting on just 19.4%.

Khimik signalled its intentions early with a classy opening quarter that saw the team take a convincing 17-25 lead. In the second frame they extended with 10-19 run that made it 27-44 through the midway point. In the third act Khimik made it a no contest with a 7-18 charge and in the fourth frame continued the domination with a 7-19 run.

Derek Needham led the champions with 14 points, Igor Zaytsev took 12 points, while Ramone Moore and Olexandr Belikov split 20 points evenly.

Only one Dnipro player notched double digits, that dubious honour going to Sergiy Zagreba with 13 points.