BC Kyiv cruised past Politekhnika-Galychyna Lviv 98:68 to take a 1:0 lead in the Ukrainian Superleague semifinal series.

Lviv had a good start to the game leading 8:10 with Volodymyr Gurtoviy scoring half of his team’s points. He, however, sustained an injury and had to leave the game, which proved to be a devastating loss for the visitors.

While the first quarter ended with the home-side’s mere 4-point lead, a heavy 11:1 blow followed at the start of the second and the advantage was extended to 23 at the end of 1st half. Manuchar Markoishvili was especially active in his return from an injury.

Kyiv finished the game off spectacularly. Artur Drozdov, Viacheslav Kravtsov and Josh Davis played high above the rim, while Yaroslav Zubritskiy and Yevgen Annenkov were barely managing not to let the margin become completely disastrous.

Kyiv’s Josh Davis scored a team-high 16 points and added 6 rebounds. Viacheslav Kravtsov and Nenad Mijatociv both added 12.

Lviv’s Yaroslav Zubritskiy had a game-high 21 points in the losing effort.

Game two is on Saturday in Kyiv.