Milutinov punches in season-high 18 points in CSKA triumph

By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net

CSKA Moscow remained undefeated in encounters opposite to FC Bayern Munich prevailing, 89-81, at the Audi Dome Thursday evening.

Nikola Milutinov made all of his eight two-pointers on his way to his 2020-21 personal-best 18 points. His 12 rebounds in the Regular Season Round 10 match marked a double-double, also that the Serbian center is back after early-season struggles following his positive coronavirus test.

“In the second half, we played more smart, better than the first. We played more aggressive, defended much better and this is why we won,” he pointed out after the game, “My teammates helped me, they always found me and put me in the right positions. For me it was the easy part, they did the most difficult job.”

Mike James poured a game-high 25 points. His 18 points in the second half included a momentum-changing and buzzer-beating three at the end of the third quarter. His side dialed in just six threes for the night but held the opponents to even less, three.

“In a tough week, we’ve played two good teams on the road so it means a lot,” said James connecting Tuesday’s away win over Zalgiris Kaunas, “I was really tired the whole traveling all that time, back-to-back road games is tough. So I told myself my team needed me and I pushed through, tried to break down the wall and it came out good.”

Darrun Hilliard threw in 14 more points and Will Clyburn ended up with 13. Janis Strelnieks, Johannes Voigtmann and Alexander Khomenko were sidelined.

“It’s a long game, a game of runs. We had ours and they had theirs,” noted head coach Dimitris Itoudis, “We’ve got to be happy, we showed progress as a team, we’re happy because of the win and the way we performed. We showed character and that’s the most important thing for me.”

The team coached by Andrea Trinchieri missing Nihad Dedovic failed to hold on to its three-game winning streak at home. Wade Baldwin IV registered a team-high 19 points and Jalen Reynolds got to 18.

The Russian powerhouse with its fifth straight EuroLeague win improved to 7-3. Coming next, Real Madrid at home next Thursday.

“Congratulations to CSKA. They played a very good game,” said Trinchieri, “I want to congratulate also my players, because they tried very hard and the story of the game is very simple. We were bad on rebounding, this hurt us a lot: 17 offensive rebounds is a huge mountain to climb.”

His team remained on the wrong end in all seven games against CSKA since 2014 in the drop to 7-3. Their next game will be in Greece against Panathinaikos OPAP next Friday.

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