By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Khimki Moscow nullified a 19-point deficit in the fourth quarter but ASVEL still managed to get away with a narrow 92-88 home win in Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Both teams now hold an 8-8 record together with AX Armani Exchange Milan.
Khimki had a chance to tie the game with nine seconds (90-88) remaining but Chris Kramer missed both of his free throws and David Lighty drained both his s on the other side to seal the deal.
Lighty led the way with 20 followed by Jordan Taylor with 17 points and eight assists while Adreian Payne added 11 points. Taylor was also the one to score the last three points for ASVEL pushing them to victory.
For Khimki, Janis Timma banked 20 points on 6-11 from deep in addition to Alexey Shved and Jeremy Evans’ 15 points each.
One step at a time
“I think we controlled the game until the moment Khimki started making three-pointers in transition. But they have quality, it is very difficult to control everything. I think about 80 percent of the game we played well both ways, but they are a very tough team. In the end, we were a little lucky, Kramer missed 2 free throws. It was an important game for us. I think we showed that we can play not only in one way, aggressive defensively, but we also played very good offense and I am happy for my team. I think we showed good offensive performance for the second game in a row. We don’t think about the top eight, we just focus game by game,” ASVEL coach Zvezdan Mitrovic noted after the game.
Both squads started off strong with high shooting percentages. It was a tie after the first quarter (24-24) but ASVEL was ahead 50-45 at halftime led by Lighty and Taylor who scored ten points each. Taylor also dished seven assists by the break.
The third quarter belonged to ASVEL managed to limit the guests to 12 points and make a 17-point gap (74-57). Khimki did manage to make a big comeback in the final period sparked by Timma with 9 and Evans with 11 points, cutting the deficit to just one point (87-86) but the hosts held on in the last minute for the win.