Peterson, Stoll lead Avtodor to rout in Jerusalem

Travis Peterson and Paul Stoll came up superb performances as Avtodor Saratov won another exciting Group H shoot-out with Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem 94-103 in the Israeli capital on Wednesday. Peterson nailed 7 three-pointers in scoring 29 points, while Stoll dished out 13 assists to go with his 19 points, 4 three-pointers and 8 fouls drawn. Artem Klimenko added 17 points and 8 rebounds and Deny Lukashov had 10 points for Avtodor, which totaled 208 points in two games against Jerusalem following a 105-96 win in their previous matchup. Avtodor, which had already been eliminated from Eurocup Eighthfinals contention coming into the game, nearly blew a 21-point third quarter lead before improving to 2-3 in the group. Jerusalem, which got to within 3 points in the fourth quarter, remained winless in the group at 0-5 despite 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals from Rafi Menco. Lior Eliyahu added 17 points in the loss while Josh Duncan had 15 points, EJ Rowland scored 14 points and Matt Janning added 10 points.

Evgeny Kolesnikov opened the scoring for the visitors with Janning matching it for the hosts. Two ties later, Klimenko’s score had Avtodor up 10-12. Rowland’s basket handed Jerusalem its first lead at 14-12. Peterson sandwiched three-pointers around a triple from Kolesnikov as Avtodor went up 16-21. Peterson nailed his fourth three of the quarter and Klimenko finished off a 1-13 run to increase the guests’ lead to 19-34. Bar Timor snapped the run and the gap was 25-38 after 10 minutes. Alan Makiev’s put-back made it a 15-point lead again to start the second quarter. But Rowland and Menco both hit 4 points in a 10-0 Jerusalem surge to cut the gap to 35-40. After Peterson ended Avtodor’s scoreless drought, Duncan and Tony Gaffney scored to trim the margin to 39-43. Lukashov countered with a three-pointer and Peterson drained another long ball to push the cushion to double-digits 39-49. Two Stolls triples and a Jeremy Chappell three increased the margin to 43-60, which Jerusalem was able to chip down to 48-60 at intermission.

Peterson started the second half with another triple, while Janning knocked down a three and Yotam Halperin converted a three-point play to try to keep the hosts close at 56-67. But Chappell and Stoll were on target again from outside as the Avtodor cushion grew to 20 points. It was 59-80 on Kolesnikov’s basket with four minutes left in the third quarter. Menco countered with 5 points in a 9-0 run, but Avtodor still led 68-82 after 30 minutes. It was 68-85 after Reggie Williams’s three to start the fourth quarter before back-to-back triples from Menco and Duncan to cut the gap to 74-85. Still, Avtodor was up 74-90 with less than eight minutes to play. But the hosts did not give up as Duncan scored 8 points and Eliyahu had 6 points in a 14-1 run to make it an 88-91 game with 3:39 left. Menco even had a chance to tie the game, but missed his three-pointer and Lukashov hit from downtown for an 88-94 lead. Eliayhu answered at the other end, but Stoll made 7 straight free throws to push the lead back to 11 points, 90-101 with a minute left to secure the win.