By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Playing without suspended Mike James, CSKA Moscow didn’t have the answers in cranch time and Bayern Munich got the big 69-66 road win. Jalen Reynolds made the score 68-66 with 55 seconds left, the “Army Team” couldn’t score in the last minute, and DJ Seeley with one more free throw sealed the deal.
Wade Baldwin with 22 points led the charge, Seeley added 17 and Reynolds had 16 as the Germans completed an amazing comeback. “We didn’t play as good as we wanted to but we came through at the end and fought through adversity”, said Seeley. “Coach told us to keep going, to keep sticking with the program: defense, rebounding, and running our plays.”
For the hosts, Darrun Hilliard also came back with a vengeance but ultimately couldn’t save the day with 15 points. The CSKA sharp-shooter had 4/8 threes after 0/11 in the previous three contests, however, he also had just 1/8 two-pointers.
His fourth three gave CSKA a 54-50 lead, Toko Shengelia followed with six straight points and at the end of the third period, the hosts managed to get a solid 60-50 lead, their biggest in the game.
Bayern didn’t back down and after four points by DJ Seeley, the Germans tied the score at 62 with three minutes left. In the next possession, Nich Weiler-Babb stole the ball, got fouled, and with his first and only point in the game gave Bayern a 63-62 lead, setting the stage for a perfect closure.
As Bayern coach Andrea Trinkieri said: “It is our key factor every game: We hustled. When we have a perfect effort, trying to overcome adversities, to overcome our mistakes. It was a great game coming from behind, CSKA made a big run and went up by 10. They hit some big shots, some were our mistakes, but we didn’t give up and now we go home with an unbelievable feeling. I am super satisfied with the win. The quality is something about wine and about something else – food, wine. The game was amazing.”
Nikola Milutinov with 16 points was the top scorer of CSKA. Sill, the Serb center made 14 of them in the first period, he was injured after that and couldn’t be a factor for the rest of the game. The hosts dropped to the second position of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings with a 16-7 record, while Bayern is fifth with 14-9.