Famutimi, Khimik Comeback Stuns Barons

Khimik maintained their unbeaten start to their EuroCup Group D campaign as they snatched a 84-78 win at Barons LMT.

Olumuyiwa Famutimi top-scored for the visitors with 20 points and they also had three other players record double figures in Riga.

Giedrius Gustas poured in 17 points for Barons but could not prevent them slipping to defeat.

		Giedrius Gustas' 17 points were not enough for the Barons LMT )

The hosts started the better, storming into an early lead thanks to pouring in 11 points with no reply.

The Ukrainians by contrast looked sluggish and found themselves 24-10 behind at one point and only managed to reduce the deficit to 28-18 by the end of the first quarter.

But they managed to haul themselves back into the game and drew level with the Latvians midway through the second period although Barons did manage to take a 50-43 lead at the halfway stage of the game.

And the third quarter saw more misery for Khimik as, although they poured in 15 points, their opponents recorded 17 to go into the final 10 minutes 67-60 ahead.

But Famutimi netted 13 points in the final quarter - nine from the charity stripe - to get the Ukrainians back on level terms before they went on to inflict Barons' first defeat of the campaign.

Quotes Barons LMT Riga vs. Khimik

Dmytri Bazelevsky, coach Khimik:

“At the beginning of the game my team could not stick to our game plan. The opponents had lot of chances to get easy points. During six minutes they scored 22 points - it’s too much. In offense we managed to force a lot of fouls for the Barons centers. We used this in the last quarter of the game. We did not give up and we fought till the end. One of the game heroes was Olumuyiwa Famutimi.”

Karlis Muiznieks, Barons LMT head coach:

“The First quarter of the game went as planned, but unfortunately my players then got a lot of personal fouls. In the last quarter of the game our team missed its leader in offense. Khimik had kept their best players for the end of the game. Recently the schedule of our games is too tight, the players are tired, some of them are forced to play ill.”