Shved soars, Khimki rolls in Belgrade

A night full of scoring swings ended with Khimki Moscow Region downing host Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade 70-79 on Tuesday in a game that went back and forth until superstar Alexey Shved shut the door in the closing minutes. Khimki's fourth road win raised its record to 10-8 to keep hold of seventh place. Zvezda fell to 7-11. Shved finished with 29 points, including 11 as Khimki won the fourth quarter 16-27. He dueled all night with Zvezda point guard Taylor Rochestie, who had 27 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. James Anderson added 14 points for the winners and Malcolm Thomas 11. Nemanja Dangubic tallied 20 points and James Feldeine 13 for Zvezda. Dangubic made 4 of 4 threes as the hosts led 14-5, and despite Khimki tying, was still up 37-26 late in the second. A 0-13 run on either side of halftime put Khimki back in the game, although a later 9-0 run had Zvezda up 48-43. Veterans Shved and Stefan Markovic kept their cool under pressure as Khimki's shooting accuracy soared to the finish of a key victory.

Shved's runner started the scoring before Dangubic and Anderson traded triples. Rochestie's first shot tied it up and his assist to Dangubic for another three-pointer put Zvezda ahead 8-5. Believe it or not, Dangubic was ready with his third and fourth shots shot from deep on the next possessions, as well, giving him 12 points in just over 4 minutes as Zvezda led 14-5. Thomas and Shved combined for 5 points to steady Khimki but Feldeine and Rochestie answered as Zvezda kept ahead 19-12. Several shots rolled out at both ends until Dylan Ennis and Markovic joined the scoring column as the first quarter ended 21-14. Shved revived Khimki with a second-chance triple and Markovic slashed to the rim to cut the difference to 21-19. Markovic then fed Anderson for a game-tying reverse layup before Dangubic returned with a two-point jumper and Matthias Lessort's free throw made it 24-21. Rochestie drilled a triple while Markovic fed Marko Todorovic for an alley-oop, but the physical defenses kept dominating. Rochestie ended the drought from deep at 31-24 and Shved got 2 points back in free throws. But Rochestie drilled again from afar before Dangubic dialed up his fifth triple for the game's biggest lead yet, 37-26. Former Zvezda favorite Charles Jenkins downed free throws and Shved found Anthony Gill in the corner for three as Khimki again trimmed the deficit to 37-31 at the half.

Shved beat the shot clock from way downtown after the break and Thomas downed a jump -hook to suddenly make it 37-36. When Jenkins next hit from the corner, Khimki was in front, 37-39. Feldeine ended a five-minute scoreless spell for Zvezda, but Shved's passing led to a Thomas super-slam and Anderson's layup for Khimki's biggest lead yet, 39-43. Milko Bjelica and Rochestie hit 4 perfect free throws to tie before Feldeine had a pair of huge layups for another swing on the scoreboard, 48-43. Thomas scored in close and Markovic found Anderson for a game-tying triple before the visitors went ahead on free throws and a fastbreak dunk by Shved. Rochestie had time to tie from deep and then finish a third-chance possession with the go-ahead jumper at 54-52 after 30 minutes. Rochestie opened the fourth quarter from deep but Anderson drove for a layup. When Markovic scored a fastbreak layup and the free throw that came with it, it was tied again, 57-57. Anderson added to the lead and Thomas soon followed to make it 57-61. Feldeine rose on the arc for a super-long triple that sparked the crowd and made it 60-61. Khimki veteran Sergey Monia came up big with his own triple then, and after Rochestie hit from shorter, Shved rained from deep. Markovic and Monia both fed Tyler Honeycutt for his first points at 62-71 with 3 minutes left. Pero Antic finally stopped the bleeding for Zvezda inside, then Feldeine did the same to make it 66-71. Shved hit 2 free throws on an unsportsmanlike foul and then drilled a face-up triple on the same possession to make it 66-76 and nail down a huge win for the visitors.