De Colo leads CSKA to Euroleague Final

Led by Euroleague MVP and top scorer Nando De Colo and his record 30 points, CSKA Moscow led from start to finish in downing Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar 88-81 in the first semifinal at the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four on Friday night at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin. CSKA returns to the championship game for the first time since 2012, and will face the winner of the other Friday semifinal between Fenerbahce Istanbul and Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz. De Colo scored 10 points in the first quarter to help CSKA pull right away, and 13 in the third-quarter as CSKA mostly kept the margin in double digits. De Colo’s 30 points bested Euroleague Basketball Legend and former CSKA star Ramunas Siskauskas’s record for points in a semifinal by 1; Siskauskas scored 29 also in Berlin in 2009. CSKA scored the first 9 points of the contest and built a 16-point margin in the second quarter. Lokomotiv cut it to 47-37 at halftime, but could not come closer than 6 until the final minute of the contest. An 18-8 run bridging the third and fourth quarters put CSKA up 78-62, but Dontaye Draper and Malcolm Delaney made the last final push for Lokomotiv. However, a key basket from Cory Higgins and free throws from Milos Teodosic sealed the deal. Vitaly Fridzon added 13 points for the winners, while Teodosic dished 6 assists. Delaney scored 26 to lead Lokomotiv, Draper added 17, Anthony Randolph 13 and Ryan Broekhoff 10. Randolph finished with 11 rebounds and 2 blocks and climbed into the record books with 8 offensive rebounds, the most ever in a Final Four game.