Baxter started the scoring for the guests but Milt Palacio converted a layup to start a 10-0 run, which included a Garbajosa basket and another Palacio layup to complete the run. Baxter stopped the run with two foul shots and Chatman trimmed the deficit to 10-8. Kelly McCarty tallied the first of three straight Khimki baskets with Fridzon’s hoop making it 16-8. Foul shots by Dennis Mims and Ozer made it 16-12 but Nikita Shabalkin slammed down a dunk and then McCarty knocked down a triple and two foul shots to give Khimki a 23-12 lead after one period. Fridzon started the second with a triple and Anton Ponkrashov’s free throws pushed the advantage to 28-12. Muratcan Guler converted a layup and a three-pointer to trim the deficit to 29-17. Baxter’s basket made it 31-19 but Victor Dubovitskiy’s three-ball started a 10-1 run which also featured a triple by Garbajosa to increase the cushion to 41-20. Ozer hit a layup and Omer Unver knocked down a three-ball to bring Besiktas to within 41-25 But Garbajosa drained another long ball and the lead was 44-27 at the break.

Palacio opened the second half with a three-point play for Khimki. Ozer hit a layup and Chatman knocked down a triple and the lead was down to 15 points 47-32. But Carlos Delfino made two baskets and after a Baxter score Jerome Moiso dunked and converted a three-point play to make it 54-34. Chatman tried his best to keep Besiktas in the game with another three-pointer and Ozer’s lay-in made it 58-41. But Garbajosa hit again from long range and Fridzon’s foul shot had the lead back over 20 points – 62-41. Haluk Yildirim hit a three-ball for Besiktas but Mike Wilkinson scored five points over the rest of the quarter to give Khimki a 67-49 lead after three periods. Besiktas tried a final push with Chatman hitting from long range to start the fourth. But Dubovitskiy answered with a triple of his own. And Fridzon’s long ball made it 75-54. Shabalkin and Wilkinson hit baskets and then two Timofey Mozgov foul shots and another score pushed the lead to 83-56. Unver tried to limit the damage with a three-ball but Fridzon hit another long ball and two foul shots down the stretch to finish the rout.


Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Eurocupbasketball.com