The top scorers: Veremeenko (17 + 10 rebounds), Torres (17), Booker (16), Lampe (15), Wolkowiski (11).

After lengthy deliberations, the coaches decided to leave Kelly McCarty, Boris Gorenc, and Ademola Okulaja at home, but got authorization from the Russian Federation of Basketball for Maciej Lampe to fly to the shores of the River Kama for the upcoming game. Experimentation with the starting five continue, and for the match at Molot in Perm (standing room only crowd, not withstanding Perm’s shameful defeat at the hands of CSKA), Khimki lined it up with: Booker, Fridzon, Torres, Veremeenko, and Wolkowiski.

Sam Hoskin netted with great precision from the line, and later in the paint, Vladimir Veremeenko, responded back at them. However, six successful attempts back to back by the home team forced the yellow-blue coaches to call a time out for corrective measures. But if immediate successful shots were not to be seen, the visiting team’s defense began to have sharper focus and delivery. At that moment Rimas Kurtinaitis called a time out. Melvin Booker mustered a field goal and leveled the score from the arc, a neat: 11-11. Gianmarco Pozzecco hit the court and on the upside of the sixth minute, Khimki took the lead once again. Lampe hit the court as center, and opened his personal count in the Russian Championship only at the half of the second quarter.

Later the visiting team carried out a beautiful offense never seen before as a rapid and torrential Pozzo crossed the court, passing to Veremeenko to assist in his successful score, and later another to Fridzon for a 3-pointer. Khimki racked up 6 points. At the start of the second quarter, after a long break, Krasnikov hit the court and the front line was now Lampe and Wolkowiski, who widened the gap even more in the score. The defense became more organized, and Gianmarco held off the opponent’s attacks. In the middle of the second quarter, Khimki was winning by more than 10 points, leading before the end of the quarter with 43-27.

Booker forced to commit some fouls, was able to score in but one offensive move 3 points. Both team’s players were not having much luck with the long-distance shots. The third (between the two teams) was made by Sam Hoskin (the other being attempted by Vitaly Fridzon and Zeljko Zagorac). The start of the second quarter actually did not change much, though both team’s players began to have more luck with the 3-pointer shots. The Moscow Region team’s lead was comfortable enough, nearing 15 points. However, is there really such a thing as a comfortable advantage when the least distraction can unleash a chain reaction in opposition? Khimki was well aware of this, and slowly but surely they built on the advantage, topping 20, when the home team rose up with a blow.

It seemed that Khimki had been mobilized after the Belgian defeat, where they lost calamitously in the battle of the rebounds, and not once were able to get in an offense in the second half (though Lampe was exceptionally good). Thus it was that two offensive rebounds won, plus the injured leg of one of the defensive line made the assault last almost two minutes. Later, however, Perm exploded and cut the difference significantly, winning over their fans in the stands.

In the last quarter, Ural Great started to zone press, but were harried in their offense. Maurice Withfield was able to score four points to his own count, a 3-pointer, and a free throw by way of a foul by Booker. The home team, with 6.5 minutes for the final siren, cut their deficit to 7 points, but Ruben played like a true captain here, and scored from 7.5 meters away with tough resistance. Ural Great were not going to let their opponent stop the rhythm of the game. At the decisive moment, Wolkowiski covered with a man on man and Booker launched an attack, which spun the advantage back up to 10 points.

The home team replied with a cut 5-0 that forced Khimki coaches to call a minutes down time. Immediately later, Torres scored a beautiful shot and Veremeenko thundered one from the arc. With 1.1 on the clock till game end, Wolkowiski hitting a spectacular shot, let Khimki glide home.