CSKA — Runa, 18 January 2024

The first pancake was ok

The opponents met only once in official games. In the first leg of the first stage, the Army Team took a difficult victory on Lavochkina Street.

18-Nov-2023. Runa - CSKA: 74-80 (+6)

The meeting, by the way, turned out to be memorable. For the red-blues, it was a return to the Dynamo arena, where, apart from the youth team players, practically no one had played before. And, in general, the derby turned out to be fiery. M'Bay's spectacular start was followed by a sticky second half. Runa fought until the last minutes, but was unable to cope with the cool-headed Trimble, who decided the outcome of the game with drives under the hoop and accurate free throws.

Everything is in place

Our team prepared for the game at its practice facility in Krylatskoye, having returned from Krasnodar on Sunday by an unusual transit through Sochi. CSKA worked at full strength with the participation of youth team guard Ivan Zaitsev.

“After a great start Runa had to overcome injuries, and now they are getting back to the full roster,” said CSKA head coach Emil Rajkovic. “We know that they remain a good team with a number of veteran, high-quality players. We stay serious and humble, we remember how difficult it was in the away game and we will play hard to get back to winning ways.”

Moscow's neighbors continue to rely on foreign leaders. The main intrigue remains the participation in the match of Runa's top scorer Cameron Young (16.0 points), who often remains out of the game due to injuries. The most important roles for the opponents are played by Nikola Ivanovic (14.7 points, 4.5 assists), Jeremiah Hill (14.0 points, 5.2 assists) and Alex Tyus (8.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.4 blocks). It is pleasant to note the graduates of the CSKA Youth project Danila Pokhodyaev (7.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 41% of three-pointers) and Kirill Savin (6.7 points, 37% of three-pointers), who are the significant players of Erturul Erdogan’s rotation.

Brief dossier

Runa Moscow

Year founded: 2017
Colors: black, green, purple
Home arena: Dynamo Sports Palace (5000)
General Manager: Sergey Yukhnevich
Head Coach: Erturul Erdogan
Website: pbcruna.ru
Trophy case: 2-time Superleague runners-up (2022, 2023), Superleague-2 bronze winner (2019), Russian Cup bronze winner (2022)