Simon A Wrecking Ball For Kyiv

Krunoslav Simon exploded for 29 points as KK Zagreb cruised to a 71-61 win over BC Kyiv in their EuroChallenge Group H clash.

Simon made six of 10 shots from three-point range and scored the bulk of his points early to take the wind out of Kyiv's challenge.

Ante Tomic was the only other Zagreb player to score in double figures, coming up big at both ends with 18 points and 16 rebounds, but no one else was needed.

After racing out to a 12-2 start, Zagreb let Kyiv back into the contest briefly, as they closed the gap to three at 21-18 on Oleg Saltovets' jump-shot.

But Zagreb responded with an 8-0 run and held the visitors at arm's length the rest of the way, their biggest lead coming when Simon's three-pointer put them on top 52:36 ahead with 3:18 to go in the third quarter.

That took Simon to 25 points on the night and the damage was done for Kyiv.

Denys Lukashov was the only Kyiv player to score in double figures with 19 points.

Quotes KK Zagreb vs. BC Kyiv

Oleg Saltovets, BC Kyiv player:
The most important thing was not to lose this game with more than 13 points, what we did, and everything else is of less importance. We didn't play well, not even near our games in this competition during the season, but we have achieved our aim. This result probably enables us to enter the next competition phase.

Krunoslav Simon, KK Zagreb player:
From the very beginning of the game we wanted to win. We started successfully and got a chance to make up the minus from Kyiv. In one moment in the third quarter, we were leading and then we stopped playing and the result melted away. The difference was diminished and when we tried to regain the 13 points difference , we did not have enough concentration so the final result remained at 10 + . The only thing we can do now is to wait for the result of the remainig games in the next two rounds, we do not depend on ourselves any more...

Vitaliy Cherniy, BC Kyiv head coach:
This is our worst game in this season in this competition. We did not play like we did in the past three games. We can do much better and I hope we'll show it in the next two rounds. The only goal for my players was to defend the 13 points difference from Kyiv what could be seen in our game.

Denis Bajramović, KK Zagreb head coach:
A day before the game, at the press conference, I said that the most important thing was to win. We did it and we deserved it. Considering the follow up of the group placements, we missed the chance to win with more than 13 points. I regret we missed our chance in the first half to realise several attacks. We played a good defence but the difference was not enough. Prkačin in defence, and Simon in offence, played excellently but it was not enough to win with more than 10 points.