RC — B Division Victory over our neighbors28 january 2007

The day Khimki and Dynamo’s main teams took to the court of the Moscow Region Basketball Center in the Moscow Region Derby, the younger boys from Khimki-2 played the second day of the B Division matches. On day two, the second match resembled the first in some respects, and in others was entirely different.

Day one: 75-73 (22-18, 12-19, 20-12, 21-24).

Top Scorers: Sukhinin (12 + 6 assists + 5 rebounds), Semerninov (12 + 7 rebounds), Nikitchenko (11), Gubanov (10), Mozgov (10 + 8 rebounds + 3 blocks),

Day two: 72-69 (15-17, 12-15, 21-14, 24-23).

Top Scorers: Nikitchenko (14), Semerninov (12 + 3 steals + 9 rebounds), Gubanov (11), Mozgov (10 + 7 rebounds + 2 steals + 2 blocks), Sukhinin (9 + 6 assists + 5 rebounds).

Khimki, from the very first minutes, gained itself a 6-point lead. The sky-blues at this point took control and speed, almost leveling the initial gap, but the coaches’ changes favored the status quo.

The opponent continuously sought their luck from the 3-point line while Khimki carried out some wise combos and executed them to their logical conclusions. All the same, as soon as the home team erred, the results were reflected on the scoreboard. And despite the opponent’s greater amount of misses than hits to the hoop, the visiting team hit the mark, 22-23 after Dynamo’s first 3-pointer and a successful break for the net in the first part of the second quarter.

Things were defined in the last seconds of the final quarter. Faced with a level score, Sukhinin attacked with a medium-distance shot just as the siren blew and brought his team to victory by a hair.

The second day witnessed a no less even battle, and the results were almost analogous to day one, and not less telling for it. This time around however the sky-blues gained a lead early on from the first minutes of the match. Up until half-time they were fairing well, and were able to keep Khimki at a comfortable, albeit short distance behind them.

Nonetheless, in the third quarter the coaches’ initiatives had an effect, and they reinforced the team’s plays in the key, as the players gained precision in their field goals. Results: a second laborious victory.
Author: Alexei Kuziashin