BC Khimki took a huge step to reaching the Last 16 of the Eurocup with a convincing 91-65 victory at home over Besiktas Cola Turka. The win improved Khimki’s record to 3-1 in Group C while Besiktas dropped to 1-3. Vitaly Fridzon led Khimki with 14 points while Jorge Garbajosa was the only other player in double figures with 11. But Khimki was able to go deep into its bench with all 12 players scoring at least 2 points and nine hitting at least 7 points. Khimki dominated the rebounds with a 38-19 advantage. Besiktas was led by Cevher Ozer with 16 points while Mire Chatman added 15 and Jimmy Baxter had 12 in the losing effort.

Baxter started the scoring for the guests but Milt Palacio converted a layup to start a 10-0 run, which included a Garbajosa basket and another Palacio layup to complete the run. Baxter stopped the run with two foul shots and Chatman trimmed the deficit to 10-8. Kelly McCarty tallied the first of three straight Khimki baskets with Fridzon’s hoop making it 16-8. Foul shots by Dennis Mims and Ozer made it 16-12 but Nikita Shabalkin slammed down a dunk and then McCarty knocked down a triple and two foul shots to give Khimki a 23-12 lead after one period. Fridzon started the second with a triple and Anton Ponkrashov’s free throws pushed the advantage to 28-12. Muratcan Guler converted a layup and a three-pointer to trim the deficit to 29-17. Baxter’s basket made it 31-19 but Victor Dubovitskiy’s three-ball started a 10-1 run which also featured a triple by Garbajosa to increase the cushion to 41-20. Ozer hit a layup and Omer Unver knocked down a three-ball to bring Besiktas to within 41-25 But Garbajosa drained another long ball and the lead was 44-27 at the break.

Palacio opened the second half with a three-point play for Khimki. Ozer hit a layup and Chatman knocked down a triple and the lead was down to 15 points 47-32. But Carlos Delfino made two baskets and after a Baxter score Jerome Moiso dunked and converted a three-point play to make it 54-34. Chatman tried his best to keep Besiktas in the game with another three-pointer and Ozer’s lay-in made it 58-41. But Garbajosa hit again from long range and Fridzon’s foul shot had the lead back over 20 points – 62-41. Haluk Yildirim hit a three-ball for Besiktas but Mike Wilkinson scored five points over the rest of the quarter to give Khimki a 67-49 lead after three periods. Besiktas tried a final push with Chatman hitting from long range to start the fourth. But Dubovitskiy answered with a triple of his own. And Fridzon’s long ball made it 75-54. Shabalkin and Wilkinson hit baskets and then two Timofey Mozgov foul shots and another score pushed the lead to 83-56. Unver tried to limit the damage with a three-ball but Fridzon hit another long ball and two foul shots down the stretch to finish the rout.