Resolution Nº 4 — Revindication18 february 2007

BC Khimki has seven matches in the “easy” stage of the ongoing Russian Championship. To gain a comfortable position for the playoffs, the Moscow Region Club needs to win all games. Key matches for the ranking in the tournament playoffs will be the upcoming ones against the l “big four”: UNICS from Kazan and Dynamo Moscow. Losing points is an unaffordable luxury, and even more so when in the first of the matches, in Vladivostok, the team was defeated.

The captain and center position for BC Khimki, Rubén WOLKOWISIKI -and most effective player in the match against Primorie (23 points that nonetheless did not help the visiting team in October) — is sure his team will win a rematch. He will put all his efforts into winning this objective. Moreover, after the first stage is over, the results for each match are all the more weighty.


— We know that Spartak Primorie is in the category of the “home teams,” although winning 3 victories as visiting team. I remember the Vladivostok game well; the flight tired us so much that nobody had enough strength for the second half, which by all measures we were supposed to win. The last basket was made by a player who I had face to face, Stanescu, and I was unable to make a decisive 3-pointer. So, this is something pending, for me and the whole team. Moreover, this match is more than just a rematch -not only for the team morale — but every victory (or defeat) can allow us, or not, to gain a more comfortable position in the tournament playoffs.

Meet the opponent


Primorie’s path towards national basketball’s elite class was a long journey. Until its appearance last year in the A Division, the club from the capital city of Primorie participated in Higher League USSR Championships only once, 20 years ago. The team, which up until 2003 was known as Spartak VGUES, was reborn in 1999, thanks to the support of the Directorate of the Municipal Administration and the city itself. For four and a half years, and up until then, on the Russian banks of the Japan Sea there was no official basketball to be heard of. The team (know up until then as Shakhter) hit the court in 1995, and later faded away due to financial woes.

For the 1999/2000 season, the team won in the Far East Championship, allowing the team to rise to the ranks of the First League, Northwestern Division. At that time, Khimki-2 and Primorie faced off in two matches. Spartak won in the Northwest and were happy to earn the fourth position. Later, financial difficulties forced the team to spend the next season in the Far Eastern Federal District.

The year of introspection for Spartak came in 2002, when it garnered financial support and took a step towards the Higher League of the Russian Championship. Second place gave them the right to rise to the B Division. The team was only one victory short of making the top three winners.

Their new goal was to win first place in the Super League B, prompting them to take in several players and Audrey Kibenko as coach. Spartak Primorie won in the Super League B, beating all four games with Khimki-2.

Their debut in the A Division was not at all bad last season, having reinforced their roster. Nonetheless, they were weakened somewhat, which forced them to make some changes in their ranks. In the preseason, two national greats led the team: Sergey Babkov and Mikhail Mikhailov, who had to make some serious changes again to the roster. Andrey Tsypatchev and Roman Levter from Khimki, along with the German Bamberg Club’s Derrick Phelps, Victor Keyrou and Virgill Stanescu (from St. Petersburg), CSKA-2s Evgeni Kolesnikov, and Metallurg’s Sergey Goriachev consolidated their roster.

Spartak Primorie

4Kolesnikov EvgenyGuard1985193Russia
5Sepelev AndreyForward1973204Russia
9Sukhorukov NikolayForward1981198Russia
10Bulganin RománCenter1979208Russia
11Tsypatchev AndreyForward1979203Russia
14Soloviev DanillCenter1987210Russia
15Polischuk EvgenyForward1980197Russia
20Goriachev SergeyGuard1984198Russia
22Phelps DerrickGuard1972192USA
23Keyrou VíctorGuard1984200Russia
24Levter RománForward1986209Russia
31Stanescu VirgillCenter1977208Rumania
88Deane Willie Guard1980186USA
 Gordeev DmitryForward1989195Russia
 Samoylov KirillForward1989196Russia
Head Coach: Sergey Babkov
Asst. Coaches: Mikhail Mikhailov, Vladimir Pevnev
Author: Dmitry Evdokimov