Today CSKA played another practice game at their training camp in Serbia. This time their sparring partner was the Belgrade club Red Star.
The Russian team started off well. Thanks to speed and aggressive the Army team built an 18-point lead (26-8) in the first quarter. After that, as soon as the CSKA coaches gave starting point guard J.R. Holden a rest, the opponents got back in the game and gradually cut into the lead. The long practice session on Monday began to show. Alexander Bashminov is still recovering from a knee injury. After the two games that CSKA played in the Chachak tournament last weekend, Marcus Brown was notably tired. Nonetheless, the American guard played excellent defense. Panov and Holden set the tone on offense. Yegor Vyaltsev also played well, scoring 12 points.
By the beginning of the fourth quarter, Red Star cut their deficit almost in half. But they weren’t able to get any closer than 10 points. Tonight in the Belgrade arena was J.R. Holden’s night. Holden drilled several 3-pointers toward the end to seal the victory for CSKA. The Army point guard led all scorers with 26 points.
Red Star - CSKA: 70-87 (8-26, 23-21, 26-20, 13-20)
Red Star: Jeretin (15), Djuric (12), Bjelica (11), Kembel (8), Dozet (7), Mirkovic (4), Stefanovic (4), Koprivica (3), Bogdanovic (3), Radivojevic (3).
CSKA:
Holden - 30 min.: 26 pts. (5/7 - 3-pts.) + rebs.
Panov - 36 min.: 12 pts.+ rebs. + 3 st. + 2 ass.
Vyaltsev - 22 min.: 12 pts.+ 4 rebs. + 2 ass.
Brown - 22 min.: 10 pts.
Beznebeyev - 19 min.: 9 pts.+ 2 rebs.
Yudin - 26 min.: 8 pts.+ 2 rebs. + 4 ass.
Bashminov - 15 min.: 8 pts.+ 5 rebs. + 3 b.s.
Zavoruyev - 12 min.: 2 pts.+ 3 rebs. + 3 ass.
Shabalkin - 15 min.: 1 reb.
Kurilenko - 2 min.: 1 reb.
The game for the CSKA Reserves was less successful, as they lost to the Red Star junior team in overtime by 6 points (87-93). With 7 seconds left in regulation, the Army team had a chance to escape with a win, but with the score 77-76 in favor of the home team Georgiy Tsintsadze made only one of two free throws.
CSKA’s next practice game will be held on Sept. 11 in Novi Sad against the local club Vojvodina.
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