ULEB Cup. Khimki remained in first place in Group D 15 january 2008

Khimki remained in first place in Group D with a comfortable 90-63 victory at home over Anwil Wloclawek. Khimki improved to 8-1 by using a 39-15 run spanning the second and third quarters to pull away for good. The victory and a win by Pamesa Valencia set up a showdown next week in Spain to decide first place in Group D.

Dan Ewing paced Khimki with 18 points while Kelly McCarty had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Maciej Lampe chipped in 12 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks while Anton Ponkrashov had 11 points and 5 assists and Vitaly Fridzon scored 10 points. Gerrod Henderson and Zelimir Zagorac both scored 12 points for Anwil, which fell to 3-6 in the group. Andrzej Pluta added 11 points and Patrick Okafor had 10 points. Wloclawek will finish off its ULEB Cup season next week at home against SLUC Nancy.

Alex Dunn scored two straight baskets as Anwil jumped to an early 0-7 lead. Ewing scored for Khimki but Henderson knocked down his second three-pointer and it was 2-10. And an Alan Daniels trey pushed the lead to 6-15. Back-to-back buckets by Ewing trimmed the deficit to 15-17. Ewing scored four more points to keep the hosts close though Okafor's foul shot made it 22-26 after one period. Zagorac opened the scoring for Wloclawek in the second period for a 22-28 lead and then hit two more baskets to keep the guests ahead. But four straight points by Ewing evened the game at 32-32. And Nikita Shabalkin knocked down a triple to give Khimki its first lead and McCarty scored five points to push the cushion to 42-33. And Khimki was ahead 42-36 at the break. Pluta nailed a trey to start the second half for Anwil and cut the margin to 42-39.

But Lampe answered with a three-point play and McCarty tallied seven straight points to surge ahead 52-39 with a 10-0 run. The hosts continued to put space between itself and Anwil with the lead growing to 18 points 61-43 on Ewing's score. And Shabalkin's triple made it 66-45 late in the third, which ended with Khimki ahead 68-48. Ponkrashov started the fourth with a basket for Khimki. And Henderson knocked down a three-ball to trim the margin back down to 19 points. But Alexei Savkov hit two baskets as the Khimki reserves did not let Anwil any closer the rest of the game while pushing the lead to 27 points by the end of the game.

ULEBCup.com