2020-21Regular SeasonRound 30
Khimki Moscow Region 68
Valencia Basket 77
March 19, 2021 CET: 18:00
Local time: 20:00 ARENA MYTISHCHI

Valencia survives late collapse to overcome Khimki

Valencia Basket boosted its playoffs hopes by claiming a 68-77 victory at Khimki Moscow Region on Friday night. Valencia used flowing offense to establish a double-digit lead in the first quarter and the advantage soon increased to 19-35, but Khimki fought back to make it 38-44 at the break. The visitors controlled the early stages of the second half and pulled away to a comfortable margin, 52-71 which survived a late Khimki rally. Derrick Williams led the way with several spectacular plays in his total of 18 points. Mike Tobey added 12 points and 9 rebounds, while Klemen Prepelic and Nikola Kalinic both scored 10. Jordan Mickey powered Khimki with 20 points and 7 rebounds, Sergey Karasev scored 16 and Errick McCollom added 10 in defeat. Valencia stays on the edge of the playoff zone at 16-14, while Khimki drops to 3-26.

Williams dunked after just 3 seconds and soon added a three-pointer as Valencia jumped out to a 3-7 lead. Williams stayed hot with a highlight reel slam before Louis Labeyrie netted from deep, but triples from Karasev and Anton Ponkrashov kept Khimki in contention. Sergey Monia pulled it back to 13-15 with another three-pointer, but Klemen Prepelic immediately responded likewise before Williams dunked again as Valencia’s offense kept rolling. Joan Sastre’s jumper and Jaime Pradilla’s three-pointer gave Valencia a 17-27 lead at the end of the first quarter. Three-point plays from Martin Hermannsson and Fernando San Emeterio extended the lead early in the second, as Khimki failed to score a field goal for three and a half minutes. Vyacheslav Zaytsev ended that barren run with a threeball and then added a two-pointer to reduce the deficit to single figures, 26-35. Prepelic from deep and Williams inside reignited Valencia, but Karasev scored 8 consecutive points – including 5 free throws – to make it 34-40. Mickey added a pair of close-range finishes, making the first half finish 38-44.

Mickey opened the second quarter scoring from mid-range, but Tobey and Williams netted inside to make Valencia more comfortable, 42-50, in a low-scoring passage of play. Evgeny Valiev and McCollom pulled it back to 47-51, but Labeyrie struck from long-range and Williams blasted another alley-oop to make it 49-58 with ten minutes remaining. Two close-range scores from Tobey gave Valencia a double-digit lead at the start of the fourth, and San Emeterio struck a triple for a 52-65 lead. Kalinic and Tobey scored under the basket to stretch the lead, 52-71. Mickey scored 6 points in an 8-0 run as Khimki responded, but a layup from Prepelic settled Valencia, 60-73 with 4 minutes left. Three-pointers from McCollom and Monia kept Khimki hoping, and Karasev scored inside to make it 68-73. But McCollom missed a mid-range shot and Kalinic made key free throws to seal the outcome inside the final minute.

Valencia survives late collapse

The game looked over when Valencia flew into a 52-71 lead midway through the fourth quarter. But Khimki roared back with a 16-2 run as Valencia scored only 2 points in nearly 6 minutes, before holding on thanks to late defensive resistance.

Visitors enjoy inside dominance

Valencia totally dominated inside during the opening stages, making its first 6 two-point attempts while holding Khimki to just 1-of-4 inside the arc. The home team improved somewhat thanks to the excellent Jordan Mickey, but Valencia still won the battle of the paint as Mike Tobey and Derrick Williams combined for 13 two-pointers, as many as Khimki’s entire team.

Injury worry for Van Rossom

The visiting team suffered a big injury setback when point guard Sam Van Rossom suffered a foot injury towards the end of the third quarter and was unable to return. Van Rossom is Valencia’s chief creator with an average of 3.6 assists per game but Martin Hermannsson stepped up on this occasion with 8 assists.

Next round

Valencia heads home for a key battle with FC Bayern Munich next Thursday, while Khimki hosts a Russian derby with Zenit St Petersburg on Friday.

Derrick Williams - Valencia Basket - EB20
Friday, March 19, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: PUKL,SASA; OBRKNEZEVIC, UROS ; KONSTANTINOVS, KRISTAPS
Attendance: 1314
By Quarter1234
Khimki Moscow Region17211119
Valencia Basket27171419
End of Quarter1234
Khimki Moscow Region17384968
Valencia Basket27445877
Khimki Moscow Region
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 MCCOLLUM, ERRICK 24:38 10 1/7 1/4 5/5 1 2 3 5   3     4 4 6
7 KARASEV, SERGEY 25:16 16 1/1 2/5 8/9 1   1 2         3 3 15
8 ZAITCEV, VIACHESLAV 26:39 6 1/4 1/1 1/2 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 6
9 VIALTSEV, EGOR 10:04     0/1         2         5   -4
10 KADOSHNIKOV, DMITRII DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 MONIA, SERGEY 30:54 6   2/4   1 7 8 1 3   2   2   16
13 SHARAPOV, VLADISLAV DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 PONKRASHOV, ANTON 17:26 3 0/3 1/3     1 1 3   2     1 4 3
17 ODINOKOV, VLADISLAV DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
18 VORONOV, EVGENY 15:57 2 1/2 0/2     2 2 2 1 2     1   1
30 VALIEV, EVGENY 13:18 5 2/2   1/2 1 3 4 1         1 3 11
55 MICKEY, JORDAN 35:48 20 7/18   6/6 2 5 7 2 3 3   1 2 4 19
Team           2   2               2
Totals 200:00 68 13/37 7/20 21/24 9 21 30 19 9 11 4 3 21 20 75
        35.1% 35% 87.5%
Head coach: MALTSEV, ANDREI
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
Valencia Basket
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 MARINKOVIC, VANJA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3 PREPELIC, KLEMEN 22:20 10 1/1 2/5 2/2   2 2 1   3     2 4 9
4 PRADILLA, JAIME 5:26 3 0/2 1/1     1 1 1       2 1 1 1
7 LABEYRIE, LOUIS 16:33 9 0/1 2/3 3/4   1 1   1         3 11
9 VAN ROSSOM, SAM 20:24   0/1 0/3     3 3 4         2 2 3
10 TOBEY, MIKE 23:27 12 6/8 0/1   3 6 9 2 1       3 1 19
12 KALINIC, NIKOLA 33:32 10 3/6 0/1 4/4 1 4 5 3 3 3 2 1 3 3 15
16 VIVES, GUILLEM 5:36           1 1 1             2
19 SAN EMETERIO, FERNANDO 11:36 6 1/1 1/2 1/1 1   1           1 1 6
21 WILLIAMS, DERRICK 25:54 18 7/8 1/5 1/2 1 3 4 2 1 3 1   2 2 17
24 HERMANNSSON, MARTIN 19:08 5 1/3 0/1 3/3   2 2 8 1 1   1 3 3 11
30 SASTRE, JOAN 16:04 4 1/1 0/1 2/2 1 1 2     1     4 1 1
Team             3 3     2         1
Totals 200:00 77 20/32 7/23 16/18 7 27 34 22 7 13 3 4 21 21 96
        62.5% 30.4% 88.9%
Head coach: PONSARNAU, JAUME

Head Coaches

MALTSEV, ANDREI
Khimki Moscow Region
“Congratulations to Valencia for this win, they played better than us. Our problem was our first quarter. We then gave a lot of energy to make a comeback and had some really good moments with the guys playing smart basketball to come back into the game, but we missed some shots and rebounds and in these little things we lost the game. But the key was our first quarter.”
PONSARNAU, JAUME
Valencia Basket

“Khimki have big talents, very good shooters and we had problems controlling the offense against their press. We had a lot of problems before this game, we arrived with many players injured and it was tough game for us with the pressure of our hope to keep fighting for the playoffs. Mike [Tobey] played a very good game, even though he had problems with fouls, Derrick [Williams] played a very good game. We have very good big men even though today we missed Dubljevic, our most important player.”

“We started the game with good concentration and good ideas on how to attack Khimki’s defense, and with a good mentality on defense. We controlled the third quarter on defense, and we lost our offensive rhythm in the fourth quarter but held our concentration at the end to win the game. Van Rossom is very important for us, he is a leader and we struggled without him. He has hurt his ankle and we’ll see how it is. Khimki is improving its defensive level, becoming more solid and competing well.”

Players

WILLIAMS, DERRICK
Valencia Basket
“We had to come ready to play. Right now the standings are really close, and every game matters like it’s a final. We approached the start of this game like a final, that’s how we got the lead and we kept the lead. They’re a good team, they have a lot of good players and they came ready to play. That’s how they caught up, but a lot of credit to the guys in the locker room, the coaches, everybody. We had an amazing game today and we’re still in the hunt. EuroLeague is one of those leagues where the game is not over until it’s done. You can be up by 15, 17, and the other team will battle back. McCollom, Mickey, led by those guys. I’m just glad we got the win. It’s a team win and like I said we’re still in the hunt.”
TOBEY, MIKE
Valencia Basket
“It’s a really important win for us, we needed it if we want to continue to fight for the playoffs. Every game from now is a final for us. They’re a good team that play really hard, they didn’t make it easy tonight. They made a couple of runs especially at the end. It was close, but I like that we fought and I like that we finished the game. We did a good job, we needed this win and some guys stepped up. Derrick had a great game and Nikola has been great for us all season. Definitely a team win tonight.”
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