By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
It was the last home game of the season for Khimki Moscow Region and Jordan Mickey alongside Alexey Shved made it a memorable one for the few fans in attendance.
Khimki prevailed over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne with an 87-85 overtime victory in Round 32 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, reaching just their fourth victory of the season. With both teams out of the playoffs zone, the battle was still intense, as ASVEL rushed back in the fourth quarter with an 11-1 run after trailing with 12 points to bring the game to even terms and eventually sent it to overtime.
Mickey fired 19 of his total 28 points in the first half to pace Khimki and Shved also had 32 points for the hosts, which snapped back from a four-game slip to defend their homecourt.
“[A game like this] is good for the public, but not so good for me”, said Andrei Maltsev light-heartedly. “I think we could have won it in regular time, but they got that three in the last second. We played like a team in the overtime. It was our last game at home, in front of these people, and we are happy we made it for them, and I think they are happy too.”
On the other end, ASVEL slipped its fifth straight game and will hope to bounce back this Sunday, when they face Maccabi in Tel Aviv for a Round 30 game.
Guerschon Yabusele was Khimki’s kryptonite, though he wasn’t able to carry his team through until the end. He posted 24 points after receiving 14 fouls and converting 12/16 free throws. Moustapha Fall had 12 points for the visitors and Amine Noua posted 10 points and 8 rebounds.
Photo: EuroLeague