Maodo Lo’s career-high heroics not enough as CSKA snatch win with a late push / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: www.imago-images.de-Scanpix Credit www.imago-images.de-Scanpix

Maodo Lo had the best night of his career, but that wasn’t enough as CSKA Moscow (10-6) secured their 10th victory of the season.

Player of the Game EFF 22 Johannes Voigtmann Points 16 Accuracy 6-11 Rebounds 5 Assists 5

The visiting Russian powerhouse 93-90 (23-21, 25-27, 21-25, 24-17) beat ALBA Berlin (5-11), which suffered the third consecutive loss.

Lo finished the game with career-high 26 points (3/6 2PT, 6/7 3PT, 2/2 FT), 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 7 drawn fouls, 5 turnovers, and a career-high 34 PIR.

With 4:50 remaining, the score was tied at 82, but then CSKA made a decisive run. Tornike Shengelia made a lay-up, Will Clyburn sank a 3-pointer, Daniel Hackett added another jumper, and with 1:36 left, the visitors were leading 91-84.

Oscar Da Silva answered with a 3-pointer, Lo made both free throws, and with 8 seconds to go, ALBA cut the deficit to one point (90-91).

Then, Alexey Shved answered with his own free throws and got CSKA lead back to three points (93-90). Marcus Eriksson tried to force the overtime, but he didn’t hit the target beyond the arc, and CSKA got the win.

"Congratulations to the team for the win. Definitely it's good to get the W and play with good team spirit," Itoudis said in his post-game comment. "Obviously, we have a lot of things to talk about, Xs and Os. But in terms of being competitive and self-awareness and team awareness, it was obvious."

For CSKA, Johannes Voigtmann accumulated 16 points (2/3 2PT, 4/8 3PT), 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 3 blocks, and 22 PIR.

"Congratulations to CSKA. I'm very happy with the effort of my players," said Israel Gonzalez. "I love these players. Not everything is a matter of wins or losses. And today is a great example of that. They played with everything they had inside. So that is great."

"Besides that, CSKA's quality is very high. They didn't miss important shots, and if they don't miss those important shots, we can't do anything. But we gave everything we had today, so I am proud and happy for my players," he added.

ALBA: Maodo Lo 26 (3/6 2PT, 6/7 3PT, 7 AST, 34 PIR), Marcus Eriksson 18 (5/10 3PT), Oscar Da Silva 13 (5/11 2PT), Johannes Thiemann 12 (4/5 2PT).

CSKA: Johannes Voigtmann 16 (4/8 3PT), Will Clyburn 15 (3/8 3PT), Alexey Shved 14 (2/5 3PT), Tornike Shengelia 12 (4/10 2PT, 10 REB), Joel Bolomboy 12 (5/5 2PT).

Highlights

Subscribe to BN+ and get access to exclusive content.