CSKA — Triumph, 23 February 2014

Our team was close to losing to Triumph for the first time ever but played great in the last quarter and defended small margin of victory in the end.

CSKA vs. Triumph (Lyubertsy): 74-71 (+3)

CSKA: Micov (17), Fridzon (4 + 3 to), Jackson (9 + 3 to), Pargo (4), Krstic (11 + 3 rb), Weems (8 + 4 to), Vorontsevich (2 + 4 rb), Khryapa (9 + 4 rb), Hines (10 + 6 rb)…

Triumph: Higgins (17 + 3 rb + 4 as + 4 to + 4 pf), Spiridonov (2), Voronov (13 + 5 rb), Chappell (9 + 3 to + 4 pf), Valiev (7 + 7 rb + 4 pf), Landry (9 + 3 rb), D.Kulagin (2 + 4 rb), Rakovic (12 + 5 rb + 4 st)…

Ettore Messina, CSKA head coach:

Not taking anything out of Triumph which showed high-lvel basketball, I’d like to note that we could not count on Victor Khryapa in the second half because Victor overloaded the hamstring muscle. Without Victor and Milos we lacked two our best passers. We had serious problems in the third quarter and I am glad that we were able to overcome them, made a decisive run in the fourth quarter and managed to win.