Eurocup. BC Khimki vs. ratiopharm Ulm — 85-8425 january 2017

Huge offensive play by Alexey Shved (32 pts) resulted in a huge 7Days EuroCup Top 16 home win over ratiopharm Ulm — 85-84 (20-9, 19-24, 31-25, 15-29). The next game our team will play on Sunday, January 29, 2017 in Riga vs. VEF-Riga. Tip-off at 17:00 msk.

BC Khimki: Shved (32 + 8 assists + 4 rebounds), Boungou-Colo (16 + 6 rebounds), Zaytsev (10 + 4 rebounds + 3 steals), Pullen (6), Vyaltsev (5), Likhodey (5), Monya (3 + 4 rebounds), Todorovic (3 + 3 rebounds + 2 steals), Hummel (3 + 2 steals), Ilnitskiy (2), Rowland, Sokolov

ratiopharm Ulm: Rubit (20 + 10 rebounds + 4 assists), Braun (16 + 4 rebounds), Morgan (14 + 8 rebounds + 4 assists), Babb (11), Butler (8 + 6 rebounds), Hobbs (6), Wohlfarth (6), Kraemer (3), Tadda, Pongo, Ferner, Pape.

POST-GAME

Thorsten Leibenath, ratiopharm Ulm head coach:

“First of all, congratulations to Khimki for this win. When you lose just by one point against one of the best teams in Europe and even on the road, normally you should be satisfied with your performance. The way we played three quarters and the way we fought in the end does make me proud. But also I need to criticize that again we had a soft first quarter against Khimki. We turned the ball over too much and gave up too many second chances. I’m really happy that we were able to give Khimki a tough fight in both games. In the end it comes down to Shved’s play who made the difference. We lost chances to compete in the EuroCup but it’s a question of pride for us. Every game that we have a chance to play, with FC Bayern Munich on the road, or with Lietkabeis at home, we need to have the desire to compete. It’s a privilege to be in the EuroCup and play against such teams like Khimki, Munich and Panevezys”.

Taylor Braun, ratiopharm Ulm guard:

“I think we came out very flat to start games for three or four plays in a row. We could have done a better job from the beginning. But we fought at the end. I missed a free throw, Da Sean [Butler] missed a free throw and it turned to a difference. We lost by one and it’s a tough pill to swallow. Now we have to play with pride in the last two EuroCup games trying to get two wins because we definitely don’t want to go out winless. We have to be more focused and play with more energy in the start of the games. Hopefully, we’ll correct that and the games come out well. Shved is a very good player, many credentials to him. He did the best he could to hit tough shots. We didn’t play great defense against him so he came out hot highly contested. We should be focused on him all forty minutes as he’s a great player”.

Dusko Ivanovic, BC Khimki head coach:

“Very hard game. But it’s a very important win for us. Before this game and after the first one in Germany I told that Ulm is a very dangerous team in fastbreaks, one of the best in Europe. It has excellent transition and excellent shooters. When we played good defense, we managed to stop their transition and eventually had a good result. In the first and second halves we had two possibilities to make easy baskets for going with a 14-point advantage. When we didn’t make the baskets, they made easy ones and came back to the game. Finally, we deserved this victory”.

Alexey Shved, BC Khimki guard:

“It’s good that we won. Generally, we controlled all the game and should have won without any downs. At the same time Ulm started to change its defense, whereas we probably lost focus or just were tired. Coach told us about it in the locker room. There are two types of wins: either you win with a huge margin and don’t worry, or you have the nervous clutch like tonight with couple of lucky moments for one team. I don’t remember if I scored so many [22] points in one quarter, probable not. The main thing is that I felt my scoring ability and the guys supplied me with assists and made good screens. I missed two important free throws in the ending that I had to score. If I did it would have been easier for my team”.