BC Khimki 79 Anwil 86

It was a clash of league leaders tonight in Moscow, as BC Khimki (undefeated in the Russian Superleague) and Anwil Wloclawek (top in the Polish League) met in the FIBA Europe League.

Somebody of course had to lose, but not after a remarkable display of outside shooting from both teams had thrilled the crowd.

Home side Khimki started proceedings with a bang as Vassili Karassev and Alexey Savkov combined for 7 3-pointers to open up a 21:11 lead in the first quarter.

Wloclawek were undaunted and in the second quarter unleashed their own outside weapon, Janis Blums. The Latvian guard would go on to hit a perfect 7/7 from behind the arc, to lead his team in a 14/23 shooting performance.

Despite being unable to quieten down the long range onslaught from Anwil, Khimki the lead at halftime (48:42) and it was not until 2:20 minutes left in the fourth that the Polish team took the lead.

It was their first lead of the game, but enough for a win as Anwil held on to emerge victors, 86:79.

		Unstopable from three-point-range: Janis Blums who made 7 out of 7 three-pointers

Game MVP: Janis Blums

Quotes BC Khimki - Anwil Wloclawek

Sergey Elevich, Head Coach, BC Khimki:

"The coaches and the players of our club didn’t decide their tasks. We couldn’t play solid defense against their long distance shooting. Neither zone nor man to man defense could help us. The shooting of Blums and other Anwil players killed us."

Igor Griszcuk, Head Coach, Anwil Wloclawek:

"This match was excellent for the spectators. We had a lot of problems with Khimki’s shooters in the first half, and I think that the Russians had the same problems after the break. The Russian team had to make some defensive changes  against our long distance shooting but they didn’t find a way to stop us in the second half. You could see that our team is very young and inexperienced, so we signed Ivica Maric (36 years) to lead the team."