Milan's defense locks down CSKA in Moscow

In a battle of powerhouses, AX Armani Exchange Milan defended as well as any team this century on CSKA Moscow's court to defeat the hosts 57-67 and retain sole possession of third place in the standings. Milan took its record up to 13-6, including 2-0 against CSKA, which dropped to 12-8. Devon Hall and Troy Daniels paced the winners with 13 points apiece. Kyle Hines added 12 for Milan. Iffe Lundberg led CSKA with 15 points while Toko Shengelia added 13. Giampaolo Ricci and Troy Daniels each struck from downtown twice in the first quarter to help Milan take a 10-23 advantage after 10 minutes. Marius Grigonis and Lundberg stepped up for CSKA, bringing their team within 33-34 but Trey Kell and Hines restored a 35-40 Milan lead at halftime. Hines and Kell fueled a 0-10 run that broke the game open, 46-62, early in the fourth quarter, and Milan did not find problems after that in cruising to a big road victory.

Malcolm Delaney got the visitors going with a floater and Ricci added a reverse layup for a 0-4 Milan lead. Lundberg stepped up with a driving layup for CSKA but Hall followed a jumper with a three-pointer to lengthen the lead to 2-9. Lundberg scored in penetration and Nikita Kurbanov added a put-back layup but a red-hot Hall took over with a driving basket and fed Ricci for a triple that kept Milan up 6-14. Sergio Rodriguez struck once down downtown and Daniels hit twice more from the same range as Milan's lead ballooned to 10-23 after 10 minutes.

Shengelia banked in a turnaround jumper early in the second quarter and Joey Bolomboy added a floater to get CSKA within 14-23. Daniels buried his third triple before Alexander Khomenko and Grigonis brought the hosts closer, 18-26. Rodriguez buried a stop-and-pop jumper that Bolomboy bettered with a three-point play. When Lundberg added a three-pointer for CSKA, Milan took a timeout at 23-29. Lundberg kept pacing CSKA with a driving layup and found Grigonis for a triple that excited the crowd at 28-31. Ivan Ukhov hit a floater and Lundberg dunked but Hall and Delaney kept Milan in charge, 33-36. Kell silenced the crowd with a huge dunk and Hines offset Shengelia's jumper with a put-back layup that fixed the halftime score at 35-40 in the visitors' favor.

Kell took over after the break with an off-balance three-point play and a jumper that Shengelia answered with a driving basket and an up-and-under layup to keep CSKA within 39-45. Hall scored in penetration, however, and Hines added a three-point play that restored a 41-50 Milan margin. Alexey Shved found his first points and fed Johannes Voigtmann for a layup but Hines scored over Milutinov and hit a jumper to keep his team way ahead, 46-55, at the end of an intense, physical third quarter.

Daniels buried his fourth three-pointer early in the final quarter, restoring a double-digit Milan lead at 46-58. Rodriguez kept leading the guests and Hall capped a game-breaking 0-10 run with a driving layup that made CSKA call timeout at 46-62. Lundberg tried to change things for CSKA and Shved's driving layup gave his team hope at 50-63 with over 4 minutes left. Milan continued to excel on defense, however, using long possessions to run the game clock down. Hines hit free throws to seal the outcome, 50-65, with over 2 minutes remaining. Bolomboy buried a three-pointer that wasn't enough to avoid CSKA setting its low-scoring mark in a home loss this century.

Milan's defense made history in Moscow

AX Armani Exchange Milan grabbed a 57-67 road victory against CSKA Moscow in Round 22 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season despite losing the battle of the boards. Indeed, despite losing the rebounding war 39-30, Milan played defense like no other visitor has done before on the home court of CSKA. Milan allowed CSKA just 57 points, its lowest mark ever in a home loss in EuroLeague history. FC Barcelona had the previous record, beating CSKA 60-81 on the road on November 8, 2012. Partizan limited CSKA to 56 points in Game 1 of the 2009 playoffs, but CSKA still won that game handily, 56-47. Milan forced CSKA into 3-for-24 three-pointers (12.5%), which was one of the biggest keys to the defense that held CSKA to its lowest scoring total this century before its home fans in a losing effort.

Kell, Daniels deliver against CSKA

Troy Daniels and Trey Kell gave AX Armani Exchange Milan the spark it needed to register a 57-67 road victory against CSKA Moscow, stepping up big in Luigi Datome's absence. In just his second Turkish Airlines EuroLeague game, Kell helped Milan with 9 points and 3 rebounds, providing the biggest highlight of the game with a huge dunk in traffic late in the first half. Daniels also came off the bench to bury 4 of 7 three-pointers on his way to 13 points in just 15 minutes. Kell and Daniels led Milan's second unit. Milan had 42 points from its bench players and CSKA got just 28. Both Kell and Daniels proved they can contribute a lot for Milan when called on in the second half of the season.