Honeycutt, Khimki close in on the first place

Khimki Moscow Region remained in control in the race for the first place in Group D by downing previously eliminated Szolnoki Olaj 65-79 on the road on Wednesday. Khimki improved to 7-2 and will finish first if it wins its last game next week, while Olaj dropped to 2-7 in the fifth place. Khimki never trailed after its 4-15 first quarter run, but it pulled away for good with a 2-16 run that bridged third and fourth quarters for 49-63 lead. Tyler Honeycutt amassed 20 points plus 12 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks in victory, while Ruslan Pateev had 14 points and 8 rebounds for Khimki which was without James Augustine, Marko Popovic and Paul Davis. Peter Lorant had 16 points and 7 rebounds for the hosts, Lazeric Jones scored 14 and Strahinja Milosevic netted 12 with 7 boards and 6 assists in defeat.

The hosts used an 11-0 run to go up 13-7 in the early going, as Lorant and Vojvoda hit triples, but Honeycutt had a basket-plus-foul and a fastbreak dunk, before Petteri Koponen hit a triple and Pateev had a pair of close-range buckets for 17-22 after 10 minutes. Honeycutt and Egor Vyaltsev extended the lead at the start of the second, before Khimki used a triple from Stanislav Ilnitskiy and a dunk from Pateev for 22-32. Sergerio Gipson and Milosevic hit three-pointers for the hosts that helped cut it to 30-36 at halftime, and more triples, one from Jones and another one from Milosevic, got Olaj within 40-41 early in the third quarter. Pateev scored twice for Khimki, with a put-back and on a fast break, but Milosevic made a basket-plus-foul to cap a 7-0 run for 47-47. But Khimki was back in front on the ensuing possession after a put-back from Honeycutt, and a pair of triples, one from Ilnitskiy and the other from Vylatsev made it 49-57 after three quarters. Khimki opened the fourth with a 0-6 run, capped by Honeycutt’s basket-plus-free throw, and his triple soon after increased the margin to 54-70, sealing the deal.