By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Cedevita almost committed suicide in Russia against Nizhny Novgord, but ultimately managed to complete the Eurocup regular season with a 84 – 82 road victory that clinches them second place in Group A with 6 wins, 4 losses. Nizhny, on the other hand finishes third with a 4 – 4 record.
Marko Tomas (20 points, 6 rebounds), Miro Bilan (19 points, 6 rebounds) and Rashad James (16 points, 5 rebounds) were the protagonists for Cedevita, while Kenneth Boynton had an epic game for of 31 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists for Nizhny.
The Croatians were in control for the vast majority of the match after getting off to a fiery start, leading 24 – 12 at the end of the first period and 42 – 31 at halftime. Things looked to be almost… comfortable for them at the beginning of the fourth period, entering the final stretch with a 66 – 51 advantage.
Then again, Nizhny hadn’t said its final word. With Boynton’s immense efforts, the hosts run an impressive 28 – 12 partial score, making it 79 – 80 with 2 minutes to go. Boynton also scored to tie the match 82 – 82 with 70 seconds left and everything went up for grabs.
But his team failed in their efforts to finish what it started while Cedevita went to the foul line twice to score 2 points that were more than enough to hand them victory.