2018-19Regular SeasonRound 25
CSKA Moscow 101
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan 95
March 08, 2019 CET: 18:00
Local time: 20:00 MEGASPORT ARENA

CSKA sinks Milan for home-court advantage

In a highly entertaining game in the Russian capital, CSKA Moscow extended its winning streak to seven games by stopping AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan 101-95 on Friday. The victory secured home-court advantage in the playoffs for CSKA, whose record rose to 20-5, one win behind league leader Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. Meanwhile, Milan saw its own five-game winning streak snapped, dropping to a 13-12 record in sixth place. Othello Hunter shined for the winners, matching his career-high with 19 points while collecting 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Cory Higgins netted 18 points, Will Clyburn scored all of his 16 in the second half, and Nando De Colo scored 12 of his 14 points in the first. Nemanja Nedovic and Vladimir Micov scored 16 apiece for Milan, Jeff Brooks had 14, while James Nunnally and Mike James each put up 13 in defeat.

The teams exchanged blows from the start. Brooks, who had 7 early points for Milan, traded dunks with Hunter and three-pointers with De Colo to make it 9-9. De Colo hit another triple and Hunter kept dominating inside, but James had a four-point play and Nedovic knocked down a corner three-pointer to make it 17-21 Milan. CSKA answered with an 8-0 run behind, again, Hunter and De Colo, and held a 27-24 lead after 10 minutes. The hosts extended the margin with Joel Bolomboy scoring a triple and a put-back dunk at 41-31. Curtis Jerrells hit a three-pointer for Milan, but back-to-back triples from Sergio Rodriguez and Higgins opened a 47-36 CSKA lead. Mindaugas Kuzminskas, from long range, lowered the gap to 51-43 at halftime, while Micov scored twice to cut it further, to 54-49 early in the third quarter. However, Clyburn soon scored a three-point play to restore a double-digit margin before Nikita Kurbanov had a put-back dunk and a three-pointer to open it up to 70-57. The hosts took a 76-66 advantage into the final quarter, then Hunter scored 6 more points to put CSKA up 86-67 with 7 minutes to go. Kaleb Tarczewski had a three-point play and Nedovic a transition triple to get Milan within 88-75. The visitors continued to melt the deficit with Nedovic scoring 8 more points, including back-to-back triples that got them to 94-87. But CSKA did not allow Milan any closer until the final second of the game.

Rebounding domination

CSKA had 41-24 rebounding advantage in the game, 20-10 on the offensive glass. It marked the sixth time this century, and the second this season, that CSKA pulled down at least 20 offensive rebounds. The club record of 24, from 2003, stays intact.

Scoring in bunches

Nando De Colo and Othello Hunter combined to score 22 of CSKA's 27 points in the first quarter, before Cory Higgins and Joel Bolomboy combined to score 17 of 24 for CSKA in the second. Will Clyburn and Nikita Kurbanov were scoreless in the first half, but scored 7 points apiece in the third quarter as CSKA opened a double-digit lead and raced to victory.

Did you catch?

CSKA has never played in the EuroLeague Playoffs without the home-court advantage. With this win, combined with a Barcelona loss against Efes, CSKA earned home-court advantage for the 13th time in 14 years.

Stellar stat

CSKA hit its first 5 three-point attempts and knocked down 7 of 8 in the first half.

Next game

Next week in Round 26 both teams will be at home. Milan hosts a playoff-chasing rival Olympiacos Piraeus on Thursday, and a day later CSKA welcomes a classic rival, Panathinaikos OPAP Athens.

Othello Hunter - CSKA Moscow - EB18
Friday, March 8, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; PEREZ, MIGUEL ANGEL; TRAWICKI, TOMASZ
Attendance: 6142
By Quarter1234
CSKA Moscow27242525
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan24192329
End of Quarter1234
CSKA Moscow275176101
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan24436695
CSKA Moscow
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 DE COLO, NANDO 22:05 14 2/4 2/2 4/4   2 2     4     3 5 12
3 BOLOMBOY, JOEL 11:16 9 3/3 1/1   2 1 3 1         4   9
5 PETERS, ALEC 10:06   0/1       1 1           3   -3
7 UKHOV, IVAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11 ANTONOV, SEMEN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO 18:03 6 0/5 2/5         7 1 1   1 1 1 4
21 CLYBURN, WILL 26:47 16 4/7 0/3 8/9 2 5 7 2   2     2 9 23
22 HIGGINS, CORY 26:42 18 4/8 2/3 4/4   2 2 4   1   1 1 3 19
23 HACKETT, DANIEL 21:19 4 0/4 1/2 1/2   2 2 1         3 1 -1
41 KURBANOV, NIKITA 20:31 7 2/2 1/1   4 4 8 1   1     2   13
42 HINES, KYLE 17:54 8 3/5   2/3 3 1 4 2 1 1     1 2 12
44 HUNTER, OTHELLO 25:17 19 9/12   1/2 6 1 7 4   3 1   3 2 23
Team           3 2 5               5
Totals 200:00 101 27/51 9/17 20/24 20 21 41 22 2 13 1 2 23 23 116
        52.9% 52.9% 83.3%
Head coach: ITOUDIS, DIMITRIS
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
00 DELLA VALLE, AMEDEO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 JAMES, MIKE 31:24 13 3/7 2/6 1/1   3 3 7 1 1     4 5 16
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 30:49 16 6/8 0/2 4/8 2 1 3 3 2       3 5 18
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 26:08 7 3/4   1/1 2 3 5 1   2   1 3 2 8
16 NEDOVIC, NEMANJA 21:10 16 2/4 4/6     2 2 3   2 1   3 1 14
19 KUZMINSKAS, MINDAUGAS 10:28 8 1/2 1/3 3/4       1           3 8
20 CINCIARINI, ANDREA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 NUNNALLY, JAMES 26:10 13 4/4 0/3 5/5   2 2 4         2 4 18
23 BURNS, CHRISTIAN 9:03 2 1/2     2 1 3       1   2   3
32 BROOKS, JEFF 29:32 14 5/5 1/3 1/1 1   1 2 1 1     3 2 14
55 JERRELLS, CURTIS 10:27 3 0/4 1/1     1 1 1 2       3    
92 OMIC, ALEN 4:49 3 1/1   1/2 1   1   1 1     1 1 3
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 95 26/41 9/24 16/22 10 14 24 22 7 7 2 1 24 23 105
        63.4% 37.5% 72.7%
Head coach: PIANIGIANI, SIMONE

Head Coaches

ITOUDIS, DIMITRIS
CSKA Moscow
"Congratulations to my team. We were in control of the game from the beginning, and managed to build a 19-point margin with 7 minutes to go. We played a very talented team, especially offensively, they proved tonight they have a lot of options to create or score. But to be honest, we have not felt that much of the pressure. We were in control, especially on the boards, and with rhythm and pace. We had almost double the rebounds than they did. We won the rebounds under their glass. We did a great job of reading and punishing their defense. Our bigs were often alone under the basket before the creation of our guards. That was more of less the story in the first three quarters. I think we slowed down in the last 7 minutes, but we did not have that much of a threat. It is not easy in this kind of EuroLeague to have stretches like we have, or like Milan had coming in here. I also want to say happy International Women's Day. This is an important day for the rights women are fighting for. And thanks to our fans for the support."
PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
"The numbers are very clear tonight. We tried to play the game, but these numbers of their offensive rebounds and second-chance points killed us completely. They had 20 offensive rebounds and we had 14 defensive rebounds. They had more offensive rebounds than we had defensive. This is the game. We made some other mistakes, but this is the real situation in this game. The picture is also clear for us. We have to stop people congratulating us for fighting for playoffs after many years, for overcoming big injuries, for competing with everybody. But the real situation is not to look for congrats, but to fight until the end. We want to be better, we play against top teams, like tonight against CSKA. They are great and play excellent basketball. We only play the top teams in the last five games. We need to play not soft like tonight. When the ball is on the floor or in the air, we need to get it."

Players

DE COLO, NANDO
CSKA Moscow
"It is never easy, and it was not tonight. They have a lot of good players who are capable of scoring. We had to play good defense. It was not easy to do it, but we fixed it in the second half. We played together and got the win. Happy Women’s Day, but as I say to my wife and my daughter, we don’t need a day to show them the love and respect they deserve."
HUNTER, OTHELLO
CSKA Moscow
"I don't think about points too much, just trying to play hard, that's it. We came off a hard road loss to Khimki (in the VTB League) and we just wanted to get some wins under the table and just keep playing hard."
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