By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Fernando San Emeterio almost sealed the deal twice for Valencia. First, he scored a nice running layup but the shot couldn’t beat the 24 seconds clock. Then, his second shot was blocked. Khimki was down by three and Alexey Shved -who made six threes in the game- would have the chance to send it to overtime.
Will Thomas was clever enough to commit the foul, sending the Russian to the free throw line and not risking him taking the three. Shved made the first, missed the second on purpose and Tibor Pleiss grabbed the defensive rebound. The final result was 85 – 83, which translates to the seventh victory of the season for Valencia.
With four minutes left in the third quarter, Sam Van Rossom fell badly and was forced leave the court on a stretcher. The Belgian was leading Valencia with seven points, seven assists and five rebounds. Tibor Pleiss was the usual recipient of Van Rossom’s dimes and he ended the night with 15 points and nine boards.
There was no playmaker, but also no problem for Valencia. With all four Taronja’s point guards out due to injury (Van Rossom joined Sergi Garcia, Antoine Diot and Guillem Vives), Erick Green (11 points) took the ball in his hands during the last quarter, leading his team to the win.
Shved should be mentioned every time you talk about Khimki’s offense and this time it wasn’t different for the best EuroLeague scorer. The Russian finished with game-high 22 points plus 5 assists. Tyler Honeycutt added 15 points.