BC Kyiv finished the 1st half of the 2007/2008 Superleague season on a high, having defeated main rivals Azovmash Mariupol 87:76, keeping their perfect record intact.

Kyiv grabbed an early 11:6 lead, winning the 1st quarter 28:24 later on.

The home side extended the lead to 11 points in the second, but Yehor Mesheryakau, having drained 3 shots from downtown, cut the margin to 4.

Mariupol zoned up on defense at the start of the 3rd quarter only to allow Kyiv to win the stretch 21:10. Ryan Stack scored 10 out of his game-high 28 points during the time-frame.

After a Marcus Faison basket in the 4th quarter Kyiv led by as many as 21. The visitors tried to hustle their way back into the game and cut Kyiv’s advantage to 7, failing to do anything more than that.

Faison finished the game with 16 points, Artur Drozdov added 13 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals.

Yehor Mesheryakau had team-best 20.

“We deserved the win”, said after the game BC Kyiv head coach Tomo Mahoric. “We could have won with an even bigger margin, but several unnecessary fouls allowed Azovmash to score several and-ones.

“We were planning to press from the start of the game, but Jeter’s injury made us readjust. I don’t like to single anyone out, but have to say that Krstic did very well.

“This win gives us more confidence heading into the Riga matchup”.

“It is very touch to play a team like Kyiv when your main frontcourt players are injured”, said Mariupol’s head coach Sergei Zavalin. “Lang was supposed to replace van der Hare, Lishchuk and Archibald, but it was hard for him to be against all the Kyiv’s big men.

“We set up zone in the 3rd quarter because started having problems playing man-to-man. This, however, allowed Kyiv’s shooters to kill us from the outside”.

Meanwhile, Kyiv’s Farm Team also confidently defeated Mariupol’s rivals 103:75.

In this contest, however, the visitors had a strong start and had a 14:6 early lead, winning the 1st quarter 25:19.

Azovmash continued to their dominance in the second, feeding the ball to their big man and extending the lead to 10. Kyiv replied with a small lineup, increasing the pace of the game and sparking a 12:2 run.

Artem Shvets carried the home side to the win in the second half, propelling Kyiv to a 26:13 third quarter. The Wolves used the momentum to win the final stretch 31:20.

Shvets had 17 points and 13 boards in the win.