Week Ten Recap

VTB-League.com recaps Week Ten, highlighted by CSKA's impressive win over previously undefeated Zenit, a nailbiter in Loimaa and big games from Keith Langford and Nik Caner-Medley.

Shakeup
The league's top two teams met at the USH CSKA. Zenit entered with a perfect record, traveling to Moscow to play the reigning champs. With 1st place up for grabs, CSKA came out firing, racing to a 30-12 lead in the 1st quarter. Even an ugly injury to Aaron Jackson couldn't slow down the home team. The Army Men finished with a 36-point win (113-77), snapping Zenit's seven-game winning streak, and improved to 8-1.

Return
Lokomotiv-Kuban opened its road game in Tallinn on an 11-0 run, but Kalev led by six at  halftime, shooting 50% from beyond the arc in the first half.

Anthony Randolph fueled the Lokomotiv comeback. Playing in his first VTB United League game of the season, Randolph finished with 15 points and 19 efficiency rating, helping the visitors outscore Kalev 48-24 in the second half. Alar Varrak's men went 3-13 from downtown after the break, slumping to an 89-71 defeat. With the victory, Lokomotiv-Kuban improves to 5-3 and 5th in the standings.

Redemption
Khimki had lost two straight: to UNICS in the VTB United League and Bayern in the Euroleague. Injuries to big men Paul Davis and Ruslan Pateev made matters worse. The club desperately needed some good news and got it with a comprehensive win over Enisey at home (108-92). Krasnoyarsk beat Khimki in Moscow Region last season, but there would be no upset this season as Alexey Shved and Tyrese Rice combined for 31 points and 18 assists to give Rimas Kurtinaitis an important win.

Rotation
"We had trouble at first - we couldn't solve our opponent's zone defense. Our reserves were a huge help..." VEF head coach Carlos Frade relied heavily on his team's deep rotation in Tbilisi. Riga plays ten deep and pushes the tempo every chance it gets. Led by Janis Berzins, the bench scored 51 points, helping the visitors cruise to an impressive 99-69 victory on the road against Vita.

Class
Krasny Oktyabr has been forced to rebuild the team after releasing its entire foreign contingent. Despite big games from Viacheslav Zaitcev and Vasily Zavoruev, Oktyabr couldn't handle Astana's duo of Nik Caner-Medley and Kenneth Hayes. The two Americans combined for 50 points, leading the Kazakh club to a hard-fought 81-74 win.

Stat of the Week
150 - total combined field-goal attempts in the Avtodor - Nymburk game on Saturday.

Both teams were aggressive from the field and pushed the tempo at every opportunity. In the end, the game was decided on one big shot. Avtodor's Travis Peterson knocked down a '3' with 40 seconds left to stretch his team's lead to six and secure the win (92-84).

Fan of the Week

Turnaround
There was a lot at stake in Saturday's Volga Derby as Nizhny Novgorod looked to catch UNICS in the standings. But the home team had other plans. UNICS led by seven at halftime and pulled away in the second half, led by the unstoppable Keith Langford. Together with Quino Colom, Langford helped Kazan stretch its advantage to 19 in the 3rd quarter. UNICS continued to add to its lead in the final 10 minutes, winning 102-68 to improve to 7-2.

MVP of the Week
Nik Caner-Medley (Astana). The American forward was dominant from start to finish, giving Astana an early lead and closing out the win in the final quarter. He finished with 29 points (13-17 from the field), seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and 33 efficiency rating. 

Quotable
Bisons head coach Greg Gibson:
- I'm proud of my guys, especially how we played on defense. Assistant coach Damion Danzler, a defensive specialist, and I really enjoyed watching the game today. Martin Zeno was terrific against our old friend Anthony Hilliard. Did you see how great Jacob Burtschi was? He's 2 meters tall and he kept their guards in check all night long!

...Bisons knew how important it was to stop Hilliard, who played for them last season. The Finns did the job, but the game was only decided in the final seconds when Tsmoki missed two 3-pointers that would have forced overtime (76-73). Prior to the game, Minsk was the only team remaining in the league with a perfect record on the road. The four-game streak came to an end in Loimaa.

Play of the Week

Photo of the Week