The cup is ours!

21.04.2006
Messina won Russian Cup (photo T. Makeeva)
CSKA won 2005/06 Russian Cup beating BC Khimki in the final game – 79-76. It is the second Russaian Cup in Army club history and the first one for Ettore Messina, Emmanuele Molin, Matjaz Smodis, David Vanterpool, Trajan Langdon, Tomas Van Den Spiegel and Vladimir Dyachok.

After loosing the first quarter CSKA made a decisive run in the second one and gained an advantage that was never lost – 37-29. 7 points by Smodis in the middle of the period were an important constituent for that success. CSKA controlled the game with a great confidence from then. But Khimki’s fabulous run in the last minutes of the fourth quarter made a bit nervous everyone from Army club side. But it wasn’t enough – 79-76 and the first season trophy for CSKA.

Khimki - CSKA: 76-79

• Matjaz Smodis scored 24 points tonight. It is his high this season in all the official games

• CSKA let EB Pau-Orthez score 30 points in one quarter. It is a team low for CSKA in all the official games this season.

• David Vanterpool made 7 turnovers. It's a first time CSKA player made so many turnovers in a single game this season.

• Theodoros Papaloukas made 5 turnovers. It's a second time he made so many turnovers in a single game this season

• CSKA collected only 4 offensive rebounds. It is the worst result for CSKA this season in all the official games

Ettore Messina, CSKA head coach:

- It was a difficult match. However, finals are never easy. We showed our worth at the defensive end, especially against pick’n’roll. Sometimes we set aside Wolkowyski and Torres, unfortunately. But we played solid offense too despite not the best evening for Trajan Langdon. The only sad moment – too many turnovers. We need to keep off this mistake in future.

Photos
Matjaz Smodis became the game best scorer (photo M. Serbin)
David Vanterpool (photo M. Serbin)
Sergey Panov (photo M. Serbin)
Jon Robert Holden (photo M. Serbin)
Theodoros Papaloukas (photo M. Serbin)
Trajan Langdon (photo T. Makeeva)
Alexey Savrasenko (photo M. Serbin)
Tomas Van Den Spiegel (photo T. Makeeva)
Zakhar Pashutin (photo M. Serbin)
CSKA (photo M. Serbin)
Vasiliy Zavoruev (photo T. Makeeva)
Ettore Messina  (photo M. Serbin)
CSKA (photo T. Makeeva)
CSKA (photo M. Serbin)
CSKA (photo M. Serbin)
CSKA fans (photo T. Makeeva)