Valencia Basket vs. CSKA: 71-96 (+25)
Valencia Basket: Abalde (2 + 4 rb), Tobey (14 + 6 rb + 3 bs + 4 pf), Motum (12 + 4 rb), Vives (2 + 5 as + 3 to), San Emeterio (5) – start; Marinkovic (3 + 2 st), Ndour (3), Labeyrie (7 + 5 rb), Van Rossom (4 + 4 as), Dubljevic (12), Sastre (7 + 3 as), Doornekamp (5 pf)…
CSKA: James (20 + 5 as), Voigtmann (3 + 2 as), Hilliard (22 + 4 rb + 3 to), Kurbanov (2 + 4 rb + 3 as), Hines (4) – start; Bolomboy (4 + 6 rb), Antonov (2), Strelnieks (0), Vorontsevich (13 + 5 rb), Clyburn (12 + 4 rb + 3 to), Hackett (8 + 6 rb + 5 as), Baker (6 + 3 as)…
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:
I didn’t know that [it’s CSKA’s first win in Valencia] so we gotta be double happy, let’s say. We had a very serious performance today. It was an outstanding performance for us, in general. We played against a very good team, against the EuroCup winner. They definitely have a lot of things that we managed to stop, like their ball movement, like the size that they have and the advantage they can get on the block, like the offensive boards… I think we were in control of the game from the beginning until the end. We were just serious. But as I said to my team, we deserve congratulations for the start. Consistency is what gives you rewards in this competition. This is a marathon. We just got an important road win to build our confidence. That’s it. Congratulations to my players and congratulations to Valencia as well. I am happy with all of my players on their performance. As you can see, we played them all. We had different lineups and tried different things. Whoever came from the bench gave something to this team. Mike [James] definitely has a very important role in the team but I wouldn’t say Will [Clyburn]’s or Vorontsevich’s or Nikita Kurbanov’s or Ron Baker’s or Daniel Hackett’s performance were not important, and so on, and so on.
