2019-20Regular SeasonRound 1
Valencia Basket 71
CSKA Moscow 96
October 04, 2019 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 LA FONTETA

Hilliard, James lead CSKA to road win

The reigning Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion, CSKA Moscow, started its title defense in style on Friday by thrashing Valencia Basket 71-96 on the road. It was a battle of continental champions, as Valencia had lifted the 7DAYS EuroCup trophy last season. Darrun Hilliard led the winners with 22 points. Mike James added 20, while Andrey Vorontsevich had 13 and Will Clyburn 12 for CSKA. Mike Tobey led Valencia with 14 points. Bojan Dubljevic and Brock Motum each had 12 for the hosts. James and Vorontsevich shined early and a big basket by Clyburn gave CSKA a 17-24 lead after 10 minutes. A three-pointer by Brock Motum brought Valencia within 29-32, but Hilliard and Ron Baker helped CSKA restore a 39-50 margin at halftime. Hilliard and James took over after that break as CSKA boosted its margin to 54-76 at the end of the third quarter and never looked back.

Nikita Kurbanov got CSKA going with a layup, then James and Hilliard each struck from downtown for a 1-8 lead. James kept pacing the guests with a three-point play but Tobey kept Valencia within 4-11. Hilliard banked in a jumper, Tobey and Kyle Hines traded dunks, and Vorontsevich's layup made it a double-digit game, 7-17. Dubljevic had four points in a 6-0 Valencia run, getting help from Louis Labeyrie and Joan Sastre to bring the hosts within 17-20. A close basket by Vorontsevich and a coast-to-coast ramble by Clyburn restored a 17-24 CSKA lead after 10 minutes. Dubljevic kept pacing Valencia early in the second quarter but Vorontsevich hit his second triple for a 21-27 score. Vanja Marinkovic took over with a layup-plus-free throw but Hilliard singlehandedly boosted CSKA's lead to 25-32. Motum answered from beyond the arc before James stepped up with 6 quick points and Baker hit a triple for a 32-41 CSKA margin. Dubljevic got Valencia within 39-44 but three-pointers within a few seconds by Hilliard and Baker, whose shot fell on the buzzer, gave the guests a 39-50 margin at halftime. Hilliard and Vorontsevich each struck from downtown after the break to make it a 15-point game, 43-58. Valencia found a new go-to guy in Motum but Hines and James kept CSKA way ahead, 47-66. Another three-pointer by Hilliard broke the game open, 47-69. Motum kept pushing the hosts but he didn't find much help. Meanwhile, three-pointers by Daniel Hackett and Clyburn gave the guests a 54-76 margin after 30 minutes. A one-handed alley-oop dunk by Joel Bolomboy sealed the outcome, 54-78, early in the fourth quarter as Valencia kept trying but CSKA kept full control until the final buzzer.

Pivotal performer

James picked it up where he left off last season, proving he can score in many ways and being completely unstoppable at times. He needed less than 20 minutes to score 20 points on 6-of-6 two-point shots and 1-of-1 three-point shots. James only missed from the free throw line (5-of-9) but added 2 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 fouls drawn for a stellar PIR of 28.

Game-changing moment

Valencia managed to get within 39-44 late in the first half. Hilliard hit a three-pointer with 4.5 seconds left, then Baker got an inbound steal and fired from the corner at the halftime buzzer. All of a sudden, CSKA led 39-50 and gained momentum for the remainder of the game.

Stellar stat

Three-point shots made the difference in this game. CSKA hit 17-of-31 shots from beyond the arc (54.8%). Those 17 three-pointers made are one shy of CSKA's club record, 18, set twice against Anadolu Efes Istanbul, in 2008 and 2018. Valencia only hit 5-of-21 shots from downtown (23.8%).

Did you notice?

It was CSKA's first-ever win in Valencia. CSKA had registered two losses in its previous visits to La Fonteta: 82-57 on November 3, 2010 and 103-99 in overtime on February 8, 2018. Another arena conquered by the Russian powerhouse.

Next game:

Both teams return to EuroLeague action next week. On Thursday, October 10, CSKA hosts FC Bayern Munich at 19:00 CET. A day later, on Friday, October 11, Valencia visits Olympiacos Piraeus at 20:30 CET.

Mike James - CSKA Moscow - EB19
Friday, October 4, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: LAMONICA, LUIGI; ZAMOJSKI, JAKUB; VYKLICKY, ROBERT
Attendance: 7390
By Quarter1234
Valencia Basket17211617
CSKA Moscow24262620
End of Quarter1234
Valencia Basket17385471
CSKA Moscow24507696
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 14:19 3 1/3 0/1 1/1   2 2   2     1 1 1 3
5 NDOUR, MAURICE 9:09 3 1/1   1/2   2 2     2     2 1 1
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 18:10 2 1/3 0/2   1 3 4     2   1   1  
7 LABEYRIE, LOUIS 16:50 7 1/3   5/6 2 3 5 1     1     3 14
9 VAN ROSSOM, SAM 17:59 4 0/3 1/4 1/2   1 1 4         1 1 2
10 TOBEY, MIKE 18:17 14 3/4 1/2 5/6 4 2 6     2 3   4 4 18
12 MOTUM, BROCK 18:57 12 3/5 1/3 3/4 2 2 4 1 1       1 2 14
14 DUBLJEVIC, BOJAN 16:47 12 4/7 0/2 4/4   2 2         1   5 13
16 VIVES, GUILLEM 22:01 2 1/3 0/3     1 1 5   3     2 2  
19 SAN EMETERIO, FERNANDO 15:01 5   1/2 2/4   2 2 1 1       2 3 7
30 SASTRE, JOAN 19:01 7 2/3 1/1     1 1 3 1 1     1   9
42 DOORNEKAMP, AARON 13:29   0/1 0/1     1 1           5 1 -5
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 71 17/36 5/21 22/29 9 23 32 15 5 10 4 3 19 24 77
        47.2% 23.8% 75.9%
Head coach: PONSARNAU, JAUME
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
CSKA Moscow
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 BOLOMBOY, JOEL 17:19 4 2/4     1 5 6   1 1 1   3 1 7
5 JAMES, MIKE 19:38 20 6/6 1/1 5/9   2 2 5         1 6 28
11 ANTONOV, SEMEN 4:13 2 0/2   2/2 1   1         2   1  
13 STRELNIEKS, JANIS 10:13                   1     1   -2
17 VOIGTMANN, JOHANNES 15:30 3   1/3     1 1 2   1     3    
20 VORONTSEVICH, ANDREY 21:17 13 2/3 3/7   3 2 5 1         3 1 12
21 CLYBURN, WILL 22:34 12 1/3 3/6 1/2   4 4 1 1 3   1 1 4 11
23 HACKETT, DANIEL 17:06 8 1/2 2/2   1 5 6 5         3 1 16
32 HILLIARD, DARRUN 24:12 22 2/5 5/9 3/4   4 4     3     2 3 16
41 KURBANOV, NIKITA 12:09 2 1/1 0/1     4 4 3 1   1   3   7
42 HINES, KYLE 18:28 4 2/4   0/2   1 1 1 1   1   3 1 2
84 BAKER, RON 17:21 6 0/1 2/2         3 1 1   1 1 1 7
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 96 17/31 17/31 11/19 8 29 37 21 5 10 3 4 24 19 107
        54.8% 54.8% 57.9%
Head coach: ITOUDIS, DIMITRIS

Head Coaches

PONSARNAU, JAUME
Valencia Basket
"The game has shown us that we have a lot of room for improvement. The EuroLeague is very demanding and tonight, we were not at that level. If you leave players open beyond the three-point line, they will hit their shots. If you are just some centimeters away, they will still make the shot. As a consequence, there needs to be a bigger effort to bother the ballhandler a little bit more to stop them from being that fluent. We have to understand that we must play tough. They didn't even allow us to get a layup. Not even one; either it was a foul or a block. Of course, we took more free throws than them but we have to fight this. They saw that our perimeter players were not hitting shots and when we played well in the first half, being dynamic and finding our big men, they collapsed the zone and made us feel uncertain. When I regret the most is that at times we showed little character, regardless of them playing better than us and being better than us and hitting more shots than us. We have to understand that the first thing for us is being brave and give our all. At times, we showed we have things to hold onto but we must consolidate them and improve them. And we will do that, for sure."
ITOUDIS, DIMITRIS
CSKA Moscow
"I didn't know that [ it's CSKA's first win in Valencia] so we gotta be double happy, let's say. We had a very serious performance today. It was an outstanding performance for us, in general. We played against a very good team, against the EuroCup winner. They definitely have a lot of things that we managed to stop, like their ball movement, like the size that they have and the advantage they can get on the block, like the offensive boards... I think we were in control of the game from the beginning until the end. We were just serious. But as I said to my team, we deserve congratulations for the start. Consistency is what gives you rewards in this competition. This is a marathon. We just got an important road win to build our confidence. That's it. Congratulations to my players and congratulations to Valencia as well. I am happy with all of my players on their performance. As you can see, we played them all. We had different lineups and tried different things. Whoever came from the bench gave something to this team. Mike [James] definitely has a very important role in the team but I wouldn't say Will [Clyburn]'s or Vorontsevich's or Nikita Kurbanov's or Ron Baker's or Daniel Hackett's performance were not important, and so on, and so on."

Players

TOBEY, MIKE
Valencia Basket
"I think it wasn't our best effort. We have to be locked in 100 percent of the time. The short moment when we were not locked in, they took advantage of, like at the end of the second half. Tey got six points in the last five seconds. In the second half, we didn't fight the way that we needed to fight to be successful in this league. The EuroLeague is the best league there is, so we cannot show up like this and expect to win, especially against a team that won the EuroLeague last year."
LABEYRIE, LOUIS
Valencia Basket
"It was a really tough game. Maybe we had the problem of every team when it gets back to the EuroLeague, which is to give too much respect to your opponent. This is maybe what we did. We tried to react in the second quarter but they were at another level. We have to play in a different way and maybe, we will be able to compete."
JAMES, MIKE
CSKA Moscow
"I think we followed the game plan well and I think we had a good game overall. I think we picked it up definitely in the second half and carried on to our first win. We are not really worried about that [sending a message to other teams]. I think we are just taking it game by game. I think we still have a relatively new team playing together, and we are just trying to grow and take it game by game."
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