Avtodor Saratov cruises past Szolnoki

Avtodor Saratov completed its first Eurocup Regular Season on a high note with a 104-78 home win over Szolnoki Olaj on Wednesday. Avtodor finished Group E in second place with a 7-3 record, while fellow Last 32 qualifier Szolnoki fell to 4-6. An outstanding 15-for-29 shooting display from downtown led Saratov to score 104 points and record 30 assists - 10 of them dished by Paul Stoll, who also led the team in scoring with 20 points on 4-of-5 shooting from long distance. Travis Peterson added 17 points, Jeremy Chappell bagged 16, Jeff Brooks amassed a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds, Artem Zabelin nailed 14 and Artem Klimenko had 11. Milos Borisov of Szolnoki led all scorers with 22 points and Krisztian Wittmann who chipped in 11.

The lead team changed six times before Dino Gregory from mid-range tied it at 12-12 for the visitors. Stoll hit a three for the hosts, but 5 consecutive points nailed by Oleksandr Lypovyy and a deep three by Gergely Somogyi gave Szolnoki a 15-19 advantage, which Klimenko cut to 18-19 at the end of the quarter. Zabelin from long distance tied it at 23-23 for Avtodor before Chappell gave the hosts a 27-23 advantage from mid-range. The hosts went on a 19-7 run capped by Brooks to lead 47-33, but in the last 20 seconds, Borisov scored five points in a row to make it 47-38 at halftime.

A 7-0 run to open the third quarter highlighted by Stoll from downtown gave a 54-38 margin to the home team. Strahinja Milosevic tried to keep the visitors on track, but it was impossible to stop Avtodor’s offense and Evgeny Kolesnikov scored another three for a 20-point margin, 67-47. A three-point-play completed by Brooks extended the cushion to 74-50 and it was 78-54 through three quarters. Avtodor cruised the rest of the way to a big win.