FoxTown Cantu scores big win over Khimki

FoxTown Cantu came up with a big home victory to start the Last 32 by knocking off Khimki Moscow Region 99-88. Damain Hollis scored 19 points and Darius Johnson-Odom had 18 points and 7 assists as six Cantu players scored in double figures. James Feldeine, DeQuan Jones, Stefano Gentile and Eric Williams all added 10 points for Cantu, which hit 53 percent of its shots from the field for the game and 94% of its free throws (17 of 18). Khimki, which shot 45% from the field, was led by Tyrese Rice’s 25 points while Petteri Koponen had 14 points and Sergey Monia collected 7 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks in the loss.

Rice opened the game with a three-pointer and Jones scored the first basket for Cantu. Tyler Honeycutt added 4 points as Khimki went up 2-7. But Jones and Johnson-Odom sparked an 11-0 run to go up 13-7. Honeycutt stopped the nearly three-minute scoring rut and Koponen and Rice both knocked down threes to even the game at 17-17. Rice hit a third three-pointer for a 20-23 lead and the visitors were up 22-23 after 10 minutes. Paul Davis started the scoring in the second quarter to push Khimki ahead 22-25. But Feldeine, Hollis and Awudu Abass all nailed three-pointers in a 13-0 run as Cantu went up 35-25. Davis’s free throws stopped the run, but Cantu had already found its rhythm and continually increased its lead. Johnson-Odom hit free throws to make it 41-29 and scored to push the margin to 51-35. Giorgi Shermandini completed a three-point play and Gentile hit free throws as Cantu was up 56-37 at the intermission.

Williams increased the lead to 21 points with the first basket of the second half. Koponen scored the next basket, but Khimki could never get enough defensive stops to really make a significant comeback. The guests trimmed the deficit to 66-49 but Hollis came back down and nailed a three to make it 69-49. Egor Vyaltsev knocked down a triple and Rice’s layup got the margin down to 69-56. But Johnson-Odom answered back with a three and Feldeine and Shermandini added baskets as the lead went back to 76-56. And Cantu led 76-58 after three quarters. Koponen opened the fourth quarter and got the deficit to 16. Marco Lagana answered with a three-pointer and the lead was back up to 81-60. The cushion was still 84-65 after a Hollis three before Khimki eventually cut into the gap. Monia and Marko Popovic both nailed three-pointers and Popovic made 2 free throws to trim the margin to 87-76. It was 89-79 after another Popovic three-pointer. But Gentile punched back with a three and Jones and Hollis scored to push the advantage back to 96-80 before Khimki 5 five points off the margin late.