CSKA Moscow in third consecutive Euroleague final

Holden versus McDonald (EFE)

03-05-2008 00:30

CSKA Moscow booked a spot in its third straight Euroleague Basketball championship game by holding off Tau Ceramica 79-83 in the second semifinal of the 2008 Final Four at the Community of Madrid Sports Palace on Friday in the Spanish capital.

Ramunas Siskauskas iced the game with a pair of free throws with 6.5 seconds left after Tau tried to rally late. Siskauskas finished with 16 points as one of five CSKA scorers in double figures.

In Sunday’s final, CSKA will look for its second title in three years and sixth overall, which would rank it second all-time behind only Real Madrid. In the final, CSKA will face the team it defeated in the 2006 title game in Prague, Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv, which beat Montepaschi Siena 85-92 earlier Friday.

Tau led at halftime and was up early in the fourth quarter, but Theo Papaloukas scored twice in a 0-10 CSKA charge that turned the game around. CSKA held on until the final minute, when some missed free throws from Papaloukas and triples from Pablo Prigioni and Igor Rakocevic carried Tau to within 2 with less than 10 seconds remaining. However Siskauskas was up to the task with the game on the line, setting up a classic Euroleague final between the two biggest superpowers of the decade.

David Andersen missed only one shot on his way to 16 points as well for CSKA, while J.R. Holden finished with 15, Matjaz Smodis added 14 and Papaloukas 10.

Rakocevic paced Tau with 19, Tiago Splitter and Zoran Planinic scored 17 points apiece and Pete Mickeal had 11 in defeat.

FULL STATS OF THE TAU - CSKA GAME

INDIVIDUAL STATS OF TAU CERAMICA

INDIVIDUAL STATS OF CSKA MOSCOW

INDIVIDUAL STATS OF THE EUROLEAGUE FINAL FOUR