Baskonia — CSKA, 29 December 2017

The Army Men showed character in traditionally tough game at Vitoria. CSKA finished the year and EuroLeague regular season first leg with a victory.

Baskonia Vitoria vs. CSKA: 81-90 (+9)

Baskonia: Timma (17 + 5 rb + 4 pf), Voigtmann (7 + 3 rb), Huertas (7), Beaubois (13 + 3 st), Janning (3), Granger (3 + 3 to), Poirier (9 + 7 rb + 3 bs), Jones (2), Shengelia (20 + 13 rb)…

CSKA: De Colo (11 + 3 rb + 3 to), Rodriguez (25 + 6 rb + 8 as), Vorontsevich (6 + 4 rb), Clyburn (20 + 6 rb + 4 to), Higgins (9), Kurbanov (2 + 4 pf), Hines (7 + 4 rb), Hunter (10)…

Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

Our defensive stops were key, but not from the beginning because we had a bad start. We had to shake it up a little bit and find the right chemistry, and we came back very soon. The players realised we had to play more physical and more aggressive at both ends. Our defense in the second and fourth quarters contained a very physical and aggressive team, and a win is a win in this marathon. We’re approaching the second leg of EuroLeague being humble and dedicated. We’re in first spot but we’ve only had 15 games. We’re happy to be first but we have to work hard and be better with every practise. We know there are a lot of quality teams out there from 1 to 16, with pride, quality and the desire to play in the highest competition in Europe. We are humble, we’re going to work and see what we have, but we have tough games ahead of us.