By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Marcus Eriksson scored 36 points on 10 3-pointers to lead Alba Berlin to a 100 – 81 road win over Khimki Moscow. The Swedish swingman became just the third player with 10 3-pointers or more in a single game during the modern EuroLeague era, after Shane Larkin and Drew Goudelock.
Eriksson scored 17 of his points in the last five minutes to push his team towards ultimately getting a comfortable win down the stretch. Sergey Karasev had scored a 3-pointer for the 70 – 70 early in the fourth period but Alba made a 6 – 0 run and then established a steady advantage that was further increased down the stretch thanks to Eriksson’s shooting.
“I just managed to get some good shots,” Eriksson said. “My teammates found me really well and I got some good screens. That was the key to our offense in the second half.”
Jordan Mickey (career-high 29 points) and Alexey Shved (15 points, 12 assists, six rebounds) stood out from Khimki that was playing with its usual 10-man roster after several player departures. The hosts were up 56 – 46 early in the second half and retained a lead throughout the third quarter until Alba caught up and then went ahead in the score.
Luke Sikma contributed 18 points and eight rebounds, Simone Fontecchio also scored 18 while Peyton Siva posted 11 points and nine assists for Alba.
Turning the defensive switch
Everything changed drastically for Alba once its players began making stops and prevent their opponents from scoring, according to Aito Reneses.
“The first half defense was really bad,” Reneses said. “They scored almost every time. While we improved our defense we were also playing well on offense. But if we don’t play good defense, we think we did bad. So I am happy we played better defense in the second half.”
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball