CSKA vs. UNICS Kazan: 96-65 (+31)
CSKA: De Colo (11 + 3 as), Peters (8), Hackett (12 + 3 rb + 2 as), Kurbanov (6 + 4 as), Hunter (10) – start; Bolomboy (7 + 3 rb), Ukhov (5), Antonov (2 + 5 pf), Rodriguez (7 + 3 as + 2 st), Vorontsevich (12 + 3 rb), Clyburn (14 + 6 rb), Hines (2)…
UNICS: Sergeyev (0), Ejim (13 + 3 to + 5 pf), Ndour (12 + 7 rb + 2 st), Smith (8 + 2 st + 4 to), Sheleketo (4) – start; Lokett (4 + 3 rb + 2 as), McCollum (11 + 6 as + 3 to), Ponkrashov (4 + 3 to), Klimenko (0), Koscheyev (0), Kolesnikov (9 + 5 pf), Kaimakoglou (0)…
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:
It is an honour for us to host another Gomelsky Cup. It was great to see on the screen the moments of the glorious victory in Seoul. We know that many heroes of those success remain in basketball and very active. It was important for us to honor great Alexander Gomelsky. We respect the work that we’ve done during the preseason and we respect our opponents. Obviously, we were a better team tonight. We kept UNICS in low scoring, we played physical on the level of allowed, rebounded, forced turnovers. As my colleague said, this game was a gift for them to make conclusions. As Kyle said, for us it was a demonstration of potential, that can be opened by our hard work. Tomorrow we will have another EuroLeague team in front of us, the team that made many changes past offseason. We have to remain humble, continue working, fight for the trophy on this tournament. I would like to thank the fans who came to the gym tonight and I hope we will see much more fans at the final game tomorrow, because it will be a great chance to see renewed CSKA.
