Top scorers: Fridzon (19), Torres (13), Pozzecco (12), Wolkowiski (10), Gorenc (9).

This time, Ademola Okulaja remained outside the 12, while Boris Gorenc came out at the start and in the first quarter racked up six points, the remaining line-up: Booker, Fridzon, Torres, and Podkolzin. The scoreboard was lit up by the birthday boy, and after a 2-pointer by Oscar Torres, the home team drew a 3-pointer from the perimeter. Podkolzin had to take things into his own hands, while his opponent Taras Osipov was not going to make things easy, and taking advantage of the great mobility of Vokhmianin in the rebound, the gap was reduced to a minimum.

The coaches for the visiting team started with a hard line: Podkolzin and Wolkowiski up front. With 3 minutes on the clock for the break, Khimki made the coach from Loko ask for a breather being under-7. Truth is, with a starting five under the scoreboards such as the one they had; Khimki couldn’t make any thunder from a distance, and tried to attack close up (only one 3-pointer was shot in the first quarter). All the same, the yellow-blues did their footwork in the paint – by scoring, despite at first they were losing in the battle for rebounds. Coming up on the break, they were able to get ahead considerably.

In the second half the game’s panorama did not change. Lokomotiv played with several fouls especially from their front end. Averaging the second quarter, Khimki’s young player, Mozgov, hit the court and made some noise, as he racked up his first official scores. At the outset of the second half, only one change took place, and Gianmarco Pozzecco took Melvin Booker’s place on the court. The score was opened with a 3-pointer by Fridzon. The gap reached a comfort zone at 13 points, but after the Spartak game, this advantage did not make Khimki ease up on their game.

The players in the center were on fire, Fridzon, Torres, and Gorenc, while Pozzecco scored, getting to the half of the third quarter with the seven shots, while on his back the home team committed 7 fouls. Lokomotiv armed itself based on offense from the perimeter (26 shots vs. 10 at a half hour into the game). The final quarter also began with a hoop from the perimeter. The visiting team’s leadership leaned on Booker, who was later changed for Pozzecco. The weight of fouls began to fall on the shoulders of the home team, and soon enough Vladimir Pronin got his 5th foul.

Vitaly Fridzon, celebrating his birthday, did as he (for the most part) pleased on court. After scoring 19 points (from the court 7/9, from the line 3/4), breaking only one rule, his adversary received 4 fouls off of him. Khimki’s coaches let the “big guys” rest and unleashed Sergey Karaulov. After a brilliant game against Lokomotiv, Khimki got to bask in its first victory during the regular stage.