«Khimki» Khimki, Russia vs. VEF Riga, Latvia

Khimki Moscow region confidently defeated VEF Riga in the home match- 77:54.

On January 5, 2012 the Moscow region club celebrated its 15th anniversary, but the team didn’t manage to celebrate it with victories. At the beginning of the New Year Khimki unexpectedly lost at home to Krasnye Krylia plus played poorly in the away match in PBL against Lokomotiv-Kuban. But soon the champion of VTB United League was going to play against Zalgiris in Kaunas, so the victory over VEF was absolutely necessary for Khimki.

The task for Rimas Kurtinaitis players was serious and the team pulled it off handled - the winner of the match became known long before the final siren. Khimki players demonstrated excellent team game (25 assists against 14), and also allowed the opponents to score from behind the arc only once out of 10 (the hosts made 6 distant shots out of 19).

The game was equal only until the middle of the 9th minute of the match, and then Vitaliy Fridzon by accurate three-pointer organized the spurt for Khimki. A young center of Moscow Region team Anton Pushkov, who after the departure of Timofey Mozgov to NBA got a chance to play in the main roster, also demonstrated a good game. After the free throws by Pushkov the difference in scoring became «+20» at the end of the third quarter and the final 10-minute period became a mere formality.

The final score - 77:54 in favor of Khimki. The most productive became Pushkov (15 points), Alexey Zhukanenko (13), Matthew Nielsen and Vitaliy Fridzon (11), in VEF - Courtney Sims (16), and Kristaps Janicenoks and Dairis Bertans 10 points each.