The best scorers: Wolkowiski (18), McCarty (12), Veremeenko (11 + 10 rebounds).

The dozen included Roman Levter, having recovered his injuries, while Pavel Podkolzin remained on the bench having lost a couple of training sessions due to illness, and Sergey Krasnikov. As for the foreigners, from protocol, Oscar Torres-Ademola Okulaja remained off the court. Dynamo’s Miroslav Raicevic was injured and did not play, leaving their new acquisitions, Eddie Gill some court time. The starting line-up for Khimki: Booker, Fridzon, McCarty, Veremeenko, and Rubén Wolkowiski, who was the first to light up the scoreboard.

Lazaros Papadopoulos and Travis Hansen took the home team to the lead, and then McCarty scored some points for himself barely three minutes into the game the new players were stealing thunder. They played fast ball, with a fair share of errors from both camps. Maybe it was the effect of the season star, after Melvin Booker received an offensive foul – more than debatable — and was switched with Gianmarco Pozzecco. The Moscow team was in a clear lead until Khimki’s McCarty leveled scores: 13-13. Unfortunately, however, not for long, and gaining on minute eight, of the initial five, only Wolkowiski and Veremeenko remained on court, and with minus five, Khimki called a time out, to later send out Karaulov to play a forward position.

The visiting team made a few errors in their long-shot attempts against the home team’s basket (10 losses at midpoint), which, coming up on the break had them 8 points under. During the first offense in the second quarter, Dynamo’s advantage grew significantly. Booker and Wolkowiski went back out on court, and after an offensive attack, lasting a good minute, Veremeenko was able to score: 19-29. After two unsuccessful 3-pointers, however, he was switched with Diatchok. Dynamo’s lead was solid, and for the first time there kept the ball to themselves in the paint for 24 seconds, and in the subsequent attack, the yellow-blues were unsuccessful with the ball. Three consecutive attempts by the visiting team to change things did not have a major affect on the score.

At 1’40 the referees slapped three fouls on Diatchok. The nets at Krylatskoe were simply off limits to whatever ball the visiting team launched, until the stroke of bad luck(?) was broken by Rubén’s successful 3-pointer. In the subsequent attach from the same spot, but stepping on the line, Melvin, took Dusan Ivkovic to stop the clock for one minute. After a score by McCarty from the line, the score lit at: 41-34. In the second quarter, however, Khimki was unable to make a last attack from the perimeter; 3-pointers landing midway, (netting 2/10, and from the line 13/26). Hansen erred from the line, and committed a foul against Vitaly Fridzon, who also had at least one foul to his count. The North American took revenge from the perimeter, and Bojan Popovic launched another, boosting the advantage.

The Moscow Region coaches took a “deliberating minute” but the long distance shots did not get any closer to their mark. The “epidemic of losses” continued. Coach Elevich decided to change key position players, but the ever-increasing Dynamo advantage was impossible to stop, and their initial 15 points in the first half grew to 22. The particular feature of these games played in two rounds, determines the ever-insistent fight for each and every ball, which does not allow recover for the following match. Having this in mind, Moscow Region basketball players seemed to leave themselves at the mercy of their adversary.

In the last quarter Khimki losing 51-68, Wolkowiski launched from the perimeter but the home team was at a comfortable distance. Fridzon’s minor injury launched Diatchok on the court briefly, who was co decorated with his fifth personal foul. The referees were noticeably generous with their fouls against the visiting team. In the last minute, Pozzecco provoked a foul from the opponent in an offense but the home team scored just at the siren. A full-fledged loss of “under 17” was more than tangible, but it is still too early to say it is all over with.