Second victory for CSKA

CSKA defeated Partizan in the Euroleague match

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CSKA won its second victory in the Euroleague basketball, beating Partizan in overtime on its court. An excellent match was played by Sonny Weems, who almost single-handedly “pulled out” the army team, scoring 30 points.

In the second and first away match of the current Euroleague, CSKA faced the Serbian “Partizan” - a principled opponent, if only because it is led by Dusko Vujosevic, who worked in the army club at the beginning of the 2010/11 season and did not show himself in any way, being left unemployed ahead of schedule. The appointment of the Serb remains one of the few mistakes of CSKA management, but Vujosevic himself probably thinks differently, so one can imagine how important this game was, first of all, for the hosts.

The army team went to Belgrade with exactly 12 players, four of whom were Serbs; Alexei Zozulin , the injured Evgeniy Voronov and representatives of the youth team remained at home. Moreover, the Serbian center Nenad Kristic played for Partizan for a long time, while Milos Teodosic was constantly booed at the Pionir arena, which the army press service called one of the most, if not the noisiest, in Europe: the CSKA defender played as part of his worst enemies from “ Red Star".

“I have only good memories of the matches in Belgrade, regardless of the final score,” said CSKA head coach Ettore Messina . – Every time I enjoy the atmosphere, the fans, the fact that people in Serbia love basketball. Always happy to meet Sasha Danilovich. I think it will be a difficult match.

“Partizan” is young and very energetic. When Belgrade plays at home, they play harder, faster and with more intensity.

I think it would be a big mistake to evaluate them based on the match with Besiktas. I think our game will be completely different.”

Messina included Teodosic, Weems, Krstic, as well as Khryapa and Ponkrashov in the starting line-up of the army team, and it was Viktor Khryapa , who scored two free throws and scored the first points in this meeting. The hosts calmly responded with their attacks, eventually scoring 11 points in a row. Messina's timeout didn't help much either: the army team felt clearly lost in the opening. Defender Aaron Jackson , who came onto the court from the bench, came to the rescue in these difficult moments and scored three points in one attack - after a solo pass, and then also by converting a free throw. The score became 7:11, but this moment, to some extent, became a turning point.

The guests stopped constantly losing the ball, responding with their effective attacks to Partizan’s attacks.

The score stopped growing in favor of the hosts, and at that moment that was the most important thing. And even though CSKA scored most of the points in the debut from the free throw line, it was not so important.

A spurt at the end of the first quarter ended with Messina's team taking the lead - 14:13 - after a three-pointer by Erceg. And as soon as the game resumed after the break, Erceg continued CSKA’s lead with another long-range shot, and by the big break the army team had already won by eight points.

In the third quarter, Partizan managed to reduce the gap to three points: the guests again committed a lot of losses. The most interesting thing, as usual, was in the end: the hosts managed to equalize the score and, thanks to the efforts of the most productive player in their lineup that evening, Leo Westermann, even took the lead – 55:53! But CSKA had its own hero, who alone scored almost a third of the army’s points - Sonny Weems. And so they played until overtime - they exchanged three-pointers, then accurate hits from free throws.

In the extra five minutes, the best that evening on the court as part of CSKA - Weems and Teodosic - said the decisive word, who was not embarrassed by the “warm” reception of the local fans.

"Gazeta.Ru" conducted an online broadcast of the match "Partizan" - CSKA.

Other news and materials can be viewed on the European Basketball Cups page .

CSKA's second victory - Gazeta.Ru