2017-18Regular SeasonRound 18
CSKA Moscow 110
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 79
January 17, 2018 CET: 18:00
Local time: 20:00 USH CSKA

CSKA fires in 18 threes in rout of Efes

CSKA Moscow left no doubt about its power by thrashing Anadolu Efes Istanbul 110-79 in the Russian capital on Wednesday. CSKA leads the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season standings with a 14-4 record, while Efes dropped to 5-13. Cory Higgins paced the winners with 21 points, Sergio Rodriguez added 16, Nando De Colo tallied 15 points and 7 assists and Will Clyburn scored 13 for CSKA. The hosts sank 18 three-point shots – the best of any team this season and one shy of the all-time record, 19, set by Montepaschi Siena in 2012. Brock Motum paced Efes with 19 points, Zoran Dragic added 11 and Vladimir Stimac posted 10 points and 12 rebounds in defeat. A rain of three-pointers - De Colo and Nikita Kurbanov each hit two, Higgins, Clyburn and Semen Antonov downed one apiece - gave CSKA a 35-21 advantage after 10 minutes. Stimac and Motum stepped up to bring Efes within 47-39 midway through the second quarter, but De Colo and Rodriguez kept the hosts in control. Higgins scored 8 points in a 12-0 third-quarter run that boosted CSKA's margin to 74-50 and the hosts cruised the rest of the way.

De Colo got CSKA going with a three-pointer and Clyburn followed free throws with a put-back layup for a 7-3 lead. Motum scored in penetration and added a triple and a layup to make it 12-10. De Colo shined with a driving layup and then CSKA took over with a rain of three-pointers: Clyburn hit one, Kurbanov added two and De Colo and Higgins also hit one each from downtown for a 31-18 CSKA lead. Dragic also buried one from beyond the arc, but free throws by Higgins and an alley-oop dunk by Othello Hunter boosted CSKA's margin to 35-21 after 10 minutes. A three-point play by Stimac and an off-balance basket by Dragic caused CSKA to call timeout at 35-26. Motum took over with consecutive layups and three-point play early in the second quarter, but three-pointers by Rodriguez, Andrey Vorontsevich and De Colo kept CSKA comfortably ahead, 44-33. Stimac hit a jump hook and McCollum sank back-to-back jumpers to bring Efes within 47-39. The guests found a new go-to guy in Dragic, but De Colo and Kyle Hines scored around the basket and Rodriguez followed a layup with a triple for a 58-46 CSKA lead at halftime.

Bryant Dunston followed a power layup with a dunk after the break, but Rodriguez and Higgins kept CSKA far ahead, 62-50. Free throws by Cyburn ignited a 12-0 run in which Higgins had 8 points, including back-to-back triples to break the game open at 74-50. Simon and Birkan Batum each hit a triple and got help from Toney Douglas and Motum to trim the deficit to 81-61 after 30 minutes. Rodriguez struck from downtown and back-to-back jumpers by Vitaly Fridzon sealed the outcome at 88-66 with seven minutes left. Nothing changed from that moment; even though Efes never gave up, CSKA had plenty of time to celebrate another win.

Cory Higgins 2- CSKA Moscow - EB17
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Euroleague.net
Referees: PUKL,SASA; JIMENEZ, BENJAMIN; RACYS, SAULIUS
Attendance: 4490
By Quarter1234
CSKA Moscow35232329
Anadolu Efes Istanbul21251518
End of Quarter1234
CSKA Moscow355881110
Anadolu Efes Istanbul21466179
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 24:41 15 3/5 3/3     2 2 7 1     2 1 2 22
7 FRIDZON, VITALY 14:20 9 3/7 1/1     1 1     1     1 1 5
11 ANTONOV, SEMEN 14:40 9 3/3 1/2     3 3 3 1       4   11
13 RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO 23:14 16 2/3 4/6   1 2 3 3       1 1   17
20 VORONTSEVICH, ANDREY 19:40 9 1/3 2/6 1/1   3 3 1 1   1   1 1 9
21 CLYBURN, WILL 22:09 13 3/5 1/2 4/4 2 4 6 4   1 1     3 23
22 HIGGINS, CORY 19:18 21 4/5 3/3 4/4 1 1 2   2       2 2 24
30 KULAGIN, MIKHAIL 7:47 3   1/1         3         2 2 6
31 KHRYAPA, VICTOR 4:58 4 1/3   2/2 1 1 2           1 1 4
41 KURBANOV, NIKITA 14:11 6   2/3     1 1 2   1       1 8
42 HINES, KYLE 17:04 2 1/2     1   1 1       1 4 1 -1
44 HUNTER, OTHELLO 17:58 3 1/2   1/2 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 3 5 4
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 110 22/38 18/27 12/13 7 20 27 25 6 6 3 5 20 19 133
        57.9% 66.7% 92.3%
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
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 MCCOLLUM, ERRICK 22:51 9 2/7 1/3 2/2   2 2 2 1 3     2 2 4
5 BROWN, DERRICK 17:18 5 1/2 1/1     1 1 2   1     3   3
8 BATUK, BIRKAN 25:51 3   1/2                   3 1  
10 BITIM, ONURALP 4:58 2 1/2                         1
11 DEMIR, BERK 3:48           1 1               1
12 MOTUM, BROCK 26:31 19 7/12 1/1 2/2 4   4           2 2 18
15 STIMAC, VLADIMIR 21:29 10 3/6   4/5 5 7 12 2 1 2 3 1 1 5 25
22 MUSTAFA, MUHAYMIN 6:29   0/2               1         -3
23 DOUGLAS, TONEY 15:31 4 2/5 0/3     2 2 2   2     2 2  
30 DRAGIC, ZORAN 16:32 11 3/5 1/3 2/2       1   3   1 2 2 4
42 DUNSTON, BRYANT 18:31 7 3/4   1/2 3 1 4     1 2 1 1 4 12
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 20:11 9 1/2 2/4 1/1   2 2 2 1 2     3 2 8
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 79 23/47 7/17 12/14 14 17 31 11 3 15 5 3 19 20 76
        48.9% 41.2% 85.7%
Head coach: ATAMAN, ERGIN

Head Coaches

ITOUDIS, DIMITRIS
CSKA Moscow
"First of all, I would like to congratulate my team. They played serious basketball; we were dominant and deserved to win tonight. We were the better team. Hitting 18 three-pointers is huge. Of course, this shows how serious we were. Of course, it is not every day that you shoot 18 of 27 [three-pointers], but also it is not normal for us to shoot, in some games, 5 of 22, 5 of 15 or something like that. We are not that bad and we are not this good. For sure, it was important that we had a different attitude on the defensive end in the second half. Overall, in the second half, we had a balance on offense, scoring 58 points in the first half and 52 in the second half. We kept them on 33 points in the second half and I think they have the quality to score, and have proved that in many games so far on the road, against Barcelona and many teams. They have a lot of talent and we kept that team, that scored 46 points in the first half, to 33 [in the second half] and that, for me, was important. We shared playing time because we have back-to-back games and have to be alert, mobile and ready for the next task."
ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"It was a very bad game for us because we didn't hustle and especially, we started the game with very bad defense, soft defense. We allowed incredible percentages, especially from three-point range, in the first quarter. We gave up on one-on-one defense, tried to help, especially after low post situations with De Colo against McCollum and then we recovered very slowly in the extra pass and we gave CSKA the aggressivity of the game. Only in the second quarter, we played a regular game, but we gave up on defense tonight."

Players

DE COLO, NANDO
CSKA Moscow
"We always can do better. I think we could have played better defense in the first half, but we reacted in the second half. As Coach said at halftime, we needed to improve our game and play a pretty good game on offense, but we need to improve our game on defense. This comes day by day, so tonight, it is a good win. I am good, but we have a game in two days. We need to rest and stay focused. The good thing is that we could involve all our players in this game."
HINES, KYLE
CSKA Moscow
"It was a tough couple of weeks for us with many difficult games and many difficult results in those games, but I think we showed maturity today. We continued to play hard, had a great shooting performance by all of our guards and all the team, in general, did a good job on defense against a good team. We have to continue to build on this. We have a difficult game coming up in two days in Athens against a team that plays really, really well at home. We have to build on this game and it will hopefully pay off in the future."
HUNTER, OTHELLO
CSKA Moscow
"I think we were focused today. The other night, our main focus was playing solid basketball and not turning over the ball too much and I think we did a great job today. We just have to be consistent; I feel like we haven't been. We have been up and down and CSKA is not known as a team that goes up and down. We have to stay up there and keep fighting."