Milos Teodosic leads CSKA Moscow hold off Unicaja 77-66 – Euroleague Recap
Former Euroleague MVP Milos Teodosic scored a game-high 19 points, including six in an 8-0 run late in the second quarter, as CSKA Moscow beat visiting Unicaja 77-66 on November 16 at the Universal Sports Hall, CSKA.
The victory is the Moscow’s fifth in a row in Group B, making them the first team of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague to record five victories this season. The victory also snapped a three-game winning streak for Unicaja, which
dropped to 3-2 at the midway point of the regular season.
“I am very glad to get this victory, to have 5 wins in 5 games.” “We expected it to be tough – and we had a tough game.” “But we played against a good opponent which plays in a strong league,” Moscow Head Coach Jonas Kazlauskas
said.
Andrei Kirilenko, the Utah Jazz star, put up strong number on the night. He came off the bench with 17 points, on 12 for 13 shooting from free throw line, a game high nine rebounds, six steals, three blocks and two assists. Nenad
Krstic tallied 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds while Alexey Shved netted 10 points for Moscow.
Joel Freeland headed the visiting team with 14 points, nine rebounds and two steals while Kristaps Valters and Tremmell Darden chipped in with 13 points each. E.J. Rowland also contributed 12 points and three steals. For the night,
CSKA shot 58.8 percent (20 for 34) from two-point range and limited Unicaja to 47.5 percent (19 for 40).
Krstic got off to a good start for Moscow and scored the first four points of the opening quarter. CSKA maintained their rhythm for the next couple of minutes and held a 9-4 lead.
Unicaja pulled back though and racked up six unanswered points to go ahead by one, 10-9. Moscow responded with a free throw and a dunk to regain the lead at 12 – 10, but Tremmell Darden drove the lane for a layup to tie the game
at 12. Rowland slipped in a layup on the next possession though to put Moscow ahead by two after the first 10 minutes of action.
Unicaja continued their strong run in the second quarter and held a 27-26 lead. However their dominance subsided in the face of an 8-2 run, which made the scores 34-29 at halftime. The Russians never looked back after that. They
started off with a 14-5 run in the third quarter and by the time, the teams headed into the last 10 minutes of the game; they were holding a massive 21-point lead, 62-41.
Unicaja fought back at the start of the fourth quarter. They opened the frame with a 15-4 surge and came within 10, 66-56, nearly six minutes inside. Unicaja kept on scoring freely after that, but the Russians made sure they countered
all the scoring and held on to 77-66 win.
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