The junior Khimki team played the next round of the Higher League A Championship in the Olimpiysk Sports Complex in Chekhov. The supposed home games were moved to accommodate a dance competition taking place in the Moscow Region Basketball Center. Khimki faced off against the tournament’s leading champion, the capital’s CSKA Trinta.
Day One: 69-81 (13-26, 21-16, 13-20, 22-19).
Top Scorers: Stepanenkov (18 + 12 rebotes), Zinchenko (11);
Day Two: 59-65 (21-17, 10-14, 11-17, 17-17).
Top Scorers: Zakharov (17), Gutsev (13), Gubanov (10 + 5 assists + 5 rebounds).
The team’s Coach Oleg REZVY –celebrating his birthday on the second day of the tournament said:
— These nominally home games we played away, almost as visitors. Thank you for wishing me a happy birthday, but I wasn’t able to get the best gift of all, this time around. In both games we showed a low amount of baskets: 36. We were unable to even make our own baskets, fumbling way too much. And the insider moves did not help much either.
Author: Alexei Kuziashin