ЦСКА Москва, Россия vs. «Красный Октябрь» Волгоград, Россия

In a Regular Season game Moscow’s CSKA defeated Krasny Oktyabr from Volgograd on their home floor – 85:67. CSKA never looked back since the first quarter when they scored twice the amount of points Oktyabr did.

The Plot
The champions were considered the clear favorites before the game, moreover they were getting Cory Higgins back after he missed the season opener. Oktyabr competed well for the first six minutes, DaJuan Johnson and Tony Mitchell went shot-for-shot with CSKA. Red Army team got a nice lift from Milos Teodosic, who stepped on the floor in the middle of the first quarter and hit a three-pointer right away. His appearance increased the defensive intensity of the game, CSKA held their opponents scoreless and finished the run as Kyle Hines drained a three-pointer at the buzzer - 24:12.

Volgograd attempted to ride the emotional wave after Johnson caught the lob pass for a jam, but the joy of their fans didn’t last long. Once again it was Milos Teodosic who stirred things up on offense. Nando De Colo wouldn’t be stopped without a foul, just willing himself to the line. CSKA ruined the comeback attempt and took a fourteen-point lead to the locker-room – 50:36 after 20 minutes.

Red and Blue continued to control the flow of the ballgame in the second half. They weren’t allowing their opponents to beat them on isolations and successfully double-teamed one of the League’s best playmakers Donnell Cooper, which had a crumbling effect on Oktyabr’s offense. CSKA stopped the Showtime and registered their second win of the season, while Krasny Oktyabr suffered their second loss in a row.

The Hero
Nando do Colo. French guard led his team in scoring for the second game in a row with 24 points. This time he (along with Aaron Jackson) also led them in assists – 5.

The Number
1 – A three-pointer made by Kyle Hines at the end of the 1st quarter was the first one of this big’s VTB United League career.

The Comments
Dimitris Itouidis. CSKA’s head coach.
I’d like to congratulate our team with a victory and thank the fans who came out to show their support today. We played good basketball for the most part, our defense was especially good at the start of each half. Our players did a fine job on Cooper, he had 11 assists, but we forced him to turn the ball over six times. They have a very talented offensive team, so for us to only allow 67 points, that speaks to the level of concentration from the team. Tomorrow we’ll start preparing for two straight games next week.

Kyrylo Bolshakov. Krasny Oktyabr’s head coach.
Today we had lapses of defense and offense, we made mistakes in game situations that we spent a lot of time on in practice. I must admit, CSKA somewhat surprised us with the fast ball movement and their ability to shoot a high percentage. Among the positives I would highlight how certain players delivered in the half-court offense, but unfortunately CSKA came away with many more positives than us.