The best scorers: Wolkowiski (22), Booker (12), Veremeenko (11), Fridzon (11).

Pavel Podkolzin returned to the home team roster, though Alexei Savkov was missing from the dozen, having injured himself in the match against Dynamo. Sergey Krasnikov also returned, though not in his top form, while Ademola Okulaja and Kelly McCarty, and were missing from the 12, due to regulations over foreign players. Starting line-up: Booker, Fridzon, Torres, Veremeenko, Wolkowiski. The initial scoreboard lit up with five points by Bailey from Lokomotiv.

The yellow-blue’s nets would not admit any of the four long shot attempts by Khimki, and was part of a series of setbacks during the first three minutes with three losses and a blocking of Booker. Fortunately they bettered their game, Fridzon got his objective with some rapid fire moves, and their zone playing worked in the medium rebounds. At 4’11 into the game Veremeenko took a shot and leveled the score. The coaches revamped the entire back end, sending Pozzecco, Gorenc, and Diatchok out on court, though the front line were in need of some changes too.

Podkolzin waited his time to turn it loose, and meanwhile Khimki won the court: 7-0, forcing Petrovic to call a time-out, which did not serve to modify the spirits of the Moscow Region players. Immediately after the break, the made themselves heard from the perimeter, with a Pozzecco power drive. The “big boy” front formed by Diatchok, Wolkowiski, and Pokdkolzin could not disengage, and Loko began its offense from beyond the arc. In minute 15 of the match, Loko’s playmaker, Baily took a breather on the bench, but the opponents couldn’t take advantage of this despite unleashing a powerful defense, they were making errors in their offense especially in the long and medium distance shots.

This lack of precision was exactly what held Khimki from letting down its guard all the way up until halftime. Even winning the battle of the rebounds by almost two-fold over the rivals did not make up for their off-target distance shots. After the break the home team line-up, of the starting five, had Booker alone left standing. The game heated up, and the speed did not distract Khimki’s mightiest, Podkolzin, but forced Rostov’s players to give it more effort in their long shots, which was not bad at first. In response, Khimki’s defense stretched out to ruffle the opponent in their attempts at hitting the backboard from a distance.

This paid off. Rubén Wolkowsiki picked up a hand with a rapid fire counter offense, right after scoring a 3-pointer taking it to: 48-42, while prompting the visiting team to call for a minute. Later Wolkowiski did a 3-point play, and took his team to the lead and himself to the forefront. Here is where it happened, Pozzecco’s 3-point success on the television screen left the referees clueless as to how to tackle the situation. In the end, and in a debatable call, they had to handle the ball by turns with Rostov.

In the last quarter, Khimki had the lead at a comfortable 9 point distance. The players focused on their defense, not wanting the opponent to get even close in points. At 33 minutes, Veremeenko received his fifth foul, while Fridzon and Diatchok had four each. Lokomotiv put up a struggle and won the cut: 7-0. Elevich stopped the clock a minutes, but the visiting team stepped up its avalanche of precision shots from the line, though they started to dwindle, until altogether stopped by the yelllow-blue defense.

During this 18-day “vacation,” from the Russian Championship (a game against Dynamo SPb had been programmed for this period); BC Khinmki will play twice in the regular stage of the ULEB Cup. Tuesday they will welcome Hapoel de Jerusalem, and on 7 November, they face off against Telindus in the Belgium city of Oostende.