The first meeting with the Moscow Region team in the 2020/21 season turned out to a defeat for Tsmoki.
Khimki – Tsmoki-Minsk 89:65 (20-16, 29-17, 19-13, 21-19).
Top scorers:
Tsmoki-Minsk:
- Uladzislau Blizniuk (15),
- Toms Leimanis (13 + 4 steals),
- Derek Cooke (10 + 6 rebounds + 3 steals).
Khimki:
- Alexey Shved (25 + 4 steals),
- Jordan Mickey (17 + 10 rebounds + 3 steals),
- Errick Mccollum (12).
Tsmoki had to play with Khimki in the fall, but due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it was decided to postpone the meeting. For the first time this season, the teams have met just now, a couple of rounds before the end of the regular season.
Due to the absence of Yauhen Beliankou, young player Daniil Barysevich took place on the floor in the Tsmoki starting lineup. Our team started the game quite cheerfully, and the backlog from the opponent in the first quarter was only minus 4 points.
In the second 10-minute, the difference between the points scored began to increase, and Rostislav Vergun was twice forced to take a time-out.
Unfortunately, Tsmoki could not get ahead. The most productive player in our team was the young defender Uladzislau Blizniuk, who threw a three-pointer into the basket 30 seconds before the end of the match.
It should be noted that the Tsmoki young players – Uladzislau Blizniuk, Daniil Barysevich and Maksim Korattsou received a significant amount of playing time against the famous names of the opponent.
Tsmoki-Minsk head coach Rostislav Vergun:
– I think that the strongest won today. I have no complaints about my players. We fought until the last second, but due to our capabilities, we lost to an opponent of the level of Khimki.
The next game in the VTB United League Tsmoki will play on April 4 on the road against the Permian club Parma.