VTB United League: Khimky stays undefeated

It was an epic clash between the two remaining undefeated teams in Group B of the VTB United League with only one of them coming out unscathed. BC Khimky Moscow Region ended the seven-game winning streak of host team, CSKA Moscow via 92-87 victory.  Khimky employed aggressive play, intensity on the glass and a high conversion rate of their shots from the field in order to down their tough opponents. Khimky converted 27 of their 37 attempts from two-point range and were able to out hustle CSKA on the boards 29 to 17.  It was also a scoring frenzy with six of their players cracking double-figure scoring.

But the statistics tell a different tale from the game itself. It was a close contest for the first three quarters with Khimky even trailing CSKA by three points going into the final period. It was thanks to a 27-19 rally that took the visiting team over the top in the final frame, as they were able to hold on to the momentum and seal the win.

Khimky’s Croatian import Kresimir Loncar was on beast mode and could not be contained by CSKA as he had a game-high 28 points thanks to an almost-perfect 12-14 from two-point range and a pristine 4-4 from the line. Mike Green, Sergey Monya and James Augustine each added 13 points in the winning effort.

As expected Serbian superstar guard Milos Teodosic led CSKA with 19 points and seven assists. He was on fire, nailing four of his nine shots from downtown. CSKA just needed to step up their defensive intensity in the final frame in order stop Khimky’s late-game surge. Sasha Kaun backed him up with 17 points of his own, while American guard Sonny Weems contributed 13.

Both Khimky and CSKA remain the top dogs of Group B with impressive 8-0 and 7-1 records, respectively. In Group A, Unics Kazan leads the pack with an 8-1 slate, while Lithuania’s Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius is hot on their tails with a 7-2 record.

Here are the other scores from Round 9 of the VTB United League:

BC Kalev/Cramo Tallinn vs. Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius, 68-76

Spartak St. Petersburg vs. CEZ Basketball Nymburk, 72-67

Enisey Krasnoyarsk vs. BC Nizhny Novgorod, 85-78

Unics Kazan vs. BC Donetsk, 85-69

BC Astana vs. VEF Riga, 89-81

Krasny Oktyabr Volgograd vs. Azovmash Mariupol, 86-76

Tsmoki-Minsk vs. Krasnie Krilya Samara, 66-74