Easy win for Dynamo Moscow in a meaningless game

Stoykov in action against Javtokas (Ph. sport1.bg)

13-01-2009 20:18

In the early game on Tuesday, Dynamo Moscow of Russia picked up a 62-86 road victory over Bulgarian champion Lukoil Academic in Group B. Dynamo, which already clinched the second place in the group and a ticket to the Last 16 last week, improved its record to 4-2. Lukoil finished its Eurocup season with a 1-5 record, having lost all three home-games. After Dynamo turned the game around with an 11-22 second quarter, Sergey Monya scored all of his 12 points in the third to deny a Lukoil comeback, while the fourth quarter belonged to Jannero Pargo, who scored 16 points in the last 10 minutes, 12 of them on triples. Pargo finished with 6 three-pointers, one more than all Lukoil players combined, and paced Dynamo with 24 points, while Sergey Bykov scored 10 points and grabbed 7 rebounds for the guests, who outrebounded Lukoil 29-38. Point-guard Hollis Price orchestrated Dynamo's offense with 10 assists. Riste Stefanov was the only Lukoil scorer in double digits with 11 points.

Bykov and Price turned Dynamo's two first possessions into layups, but Todor Stoykov's basket capped a quick turnaround as the hosts went up 9-6. Hansen scored, Price nailed a three and then stole the ball and dished to Hansen, who dunked it for a 9-13 Dynamo lead. The exchange of runs continued, as Tencho Banev and Vladimir Mijovic scored 4 straight points for Lukoil, and after a Robertas Javtokas layup on the other end, the hosts came through with 8 unanswered points for their biggest advantage of the game, 21-15. Pargo drained a three to cut it to 21-18 after 10 minutes. The hosts defended their lead at the start of the second quarter and made it 28-23 after a Mijovic three. But then Dynamo's defense took over to prevent Lukoil from scoring in a span of four minutes. At the same time, the visitors scored 11 points on the other end, 4 of them on dunks by Javtokas, and all of sudden Dynamo was in front at 28-34. Finally, Veselin Veselinov made a bucket for the hosts, but Javtokas kept doing his thing inside, forcing Lukoil to foul him. Fellow big man Lavrinovic finished the 11-22 second quarter with 4 points for Dynamo, and the scoreboard showed 32-40 at the halftime.

Price and Monya opened the second half with 4 points for Dynamo. Banev and Tony Akins matched them on the other end. Monya's three made it 36-47, and his layup minutes later widened the lead to 38-51. Riste Stefanov made a rare 4-point play for Lukoil, but Monya was unstoppable now, scoring another layup and another triple for his 12th point of the quarter. Down 42-56, Lukoil had no time to waste in order to stay in the game. The Bulgarian champs managed to step up on defense and only allow a single Dynamo field goal in the remaining four minutes of the third quarter, but still trailed 47-58 with 10 minutes to go. After Nikolay Varbanov made the first basket of the final quarter for the hosts, Pargo nailed back-to-back triples for Dynamo, widening the advantage further to 49-64. Leemire Goldwire's 6 points paced one last Lukoil run that cut the deficit to 58-68. But Pargo was ready with his third and fourth three of the quarter, Bykov copied him on the next possession, and the game was out of reach for the hosts, behind at 60-77 with only three minutes left in their Eurocup season.

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