BC Khimki Moscow Region walked away from the Ciutat de L’Hospitalet Tournament with a fifth-place finish after downing DKV Joventut 75-63 in both teams’ last game at the event. Alexander Zakharov scored 22 points to lead Khimki, which finished with two wins in four games in L’Hospitalet. Joventut used a 2-16 run that bridged the second and third quarters to seemingly take control, but Khimki silenced its opponent’s attack after that, regained the lead with a 10-0 push and sailed ahead for good. Roman Afanasyev added 17 points and Stanislav Ilnitskiy scored 16 for the winners. Guillem Vives paced Badalona with 15 points, Anton Regal Del Rio scored 14 and Gerard Sevillano had 13 points and 9 rebounds in defeat as Joventut dropped its third result in four games.
Khimki jumped out to a promising start with swarming defense and a crisp offensive game that got Afanasyev and Ilnitskiy good looks en route to a 13-3 lead. Joventut fought back at Sergio Salvador and Regal Del Rio nailed threes, though Maksim Chislov soon restored a 10-point Khimki margin. A Vives three and a pair of Salvador free throws trimmed the gap to 23-16 after 10 minutes. Joventut continued to get closer on a Salvador triple, though baskets by Elvis Saulitis and Chislov kept Khimki ahead 29-23. The wheels came off at that point for Khimki as three-pointers from Sevillano and Vives put Badalona ahead. Denis Levshin answered to make it 31-30 only to see Vives find Sevillano for a triple to end the half at 31-35 – finishing a 2-12 run for Joventut in the closing minutes of the quarter. Regal Del Rio added two more baskets to that run as the Joventut lead peaked at 8. Ilnitskiy came to Khimki’s rescue with a pair of baskets as his team got on a roll. After a Toni Gomez layup for Joventut, Afanasyev took care of business with 7 points in a 10-0 run that put Khimki back ahead, 45-41. Sevillano and Vives tried to counter, but Khimki pushed on through a red-hot Zakharov, who increased the margin to 59-47 after three quarters. Zakharov’s triple early in the final quarter put Khimki up 17 and it was easy sailing from there. Badalona made a late push with threes from Regal Del Rio and Vives to get within 10, but the outcome was never in doubt at that point.
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Euroleague.net
|