Eurocup. Le Havre — BC Khimki — 63-79 6 january 2009

In a game that would have no decidive outcome as for teams advaning to the Last 16, visiting BC Khimki defeated Le Havre in France on Tuesday night by 63-79. Kelly McCarty led the winners with 20 points and Timofey Mozgov added 13. The win allows the Russian team to improve to 4-1 in Group C to maintain first place.

Fabien Causeur sank two free throws to make it 2-2 for Le Havre but then, BC Khimki replied with a 0-10 including seven points by Kelly McCarty that left a totally different scenario on court. Rudy Jomby finally gave some signs of life for Le Havre with his layup but it was Timofey Mozgov now who scoed four points of his own to keep Khimki out of reach. Jomby blasted a three but it was only for 9-20. However, that came as an inspiration as Jomby himself scored again from the arc and TJ Thompson had a layup that closed an 8-0 that allowed the hosts to trim down the deficit to 14-20, forcing Khimki's timeout. Milt Palacio came out of that with a triple, but Thompson had the last word putting an end to the first period with a 16-23 Khimki edge. Marcus Slaughter put Le Havre only 5 points below when he scored to open the second quarter, 18-23, but Victor Dubovitskiy hit a three to keep Khimki going. Le Havre worked hard in offense though, and another 8-2 run arrived for the hosts thanks to points by Aleksandar Bojic and Thompson. The hosts dominsted the rebounds battle and had also a slight better percentage on 2-point shots, but Khimki's dominance in assists, steals and turnovers allowed them to keep the winning hand at this point. Mike Wilkinson sank two free throws but Khimki was struggling in offense now, and Bingo Merriex made it a one-point game, 30-31. McCarty and Carlos Delfino saved the situation from the charity line and it was then a duel between McCarty and Causeur to send the game into the halftime break with a 36-39 Khimki lead.

A 0-7 burst to start the second half, allowed Khimki to pull away by 36-46 in minute 23. Jomby was again the go-to man for Le Havre scoring again for his team with a three, but Delfino and Jorge Garbajosa scored to maintain Khimki at a solid distance, 42-50. The scoring run of the Russian team was far from over however, as McCarty, Palacio and Wilkinson joined the party to make it 42-58 after a 0-10. Causeur and Merriex teamed up to stop the bleeding for the hosts, but Khimki always found options in offense to maintain the lead after 30 minutes, 47-65. Bojic started the last period scoring from the charity line for Le Havre, but the reaply was five straight points between Vitaly Fridzon and Wilkinson to widen the gap. The rest of the final period would have no impact on the final outcome as Khimki cruised to the win maintaining the lead around the 15 points.

SERGIO SCARIOLO, BC Khimki Head Coach

It was not our best game ever, and I think it is also not the case for Le Havre! We first took a 15-point lead quite easily, but we lost all our attention and we let them come back in the game. We had kind of an aggressiveness back during the third quarter. For the last part of the game, we tried to handle the situation. My aim is to make this team stronger in its mind, but we are in process: it is a long process, but we are improving. I'm globally not satisfied of what the guys showed tonight, except maybe the 5 first minutes.

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