BC Kyiv extended their Superleague winning streak to 7 games, having defeated reigning champions Azovmash Mariupol 84:76.

Both teams matched each other evenly through most of the first frame, but Artur Drozdov’s buzzer beater at the end of the quarter gave his Kyiv an 8-point lead.

Azovmash used Tomas Van den Shpiegel to catch up with Kyiv early in the second. His 6 straight points allowed Mariupol to go ahead by 3. But Kyiv stopped the opponents’ run and restored a 1-point lead by halftime.

Kyiv built a 10-point lead in the third stanza and managed to confidently hold on to it till the final minutes of the game. That’s when Azovmash drained back-to-back threes that got them back in the match, but tactical fouls and Kyiv’s perfect free-throw execution allowed them to force the Champions to surrender for the second time this season.

Kyiv’s Alex Scales had a game-high 21 points. Scoonie Penn added 16 for the winning side. Dijon Thompson and Tomas Delininkaitis each had 17 points in the loss.

“We played a very difficult game against Panellinios on Tuesday, so it was impossible to expect us to start the game the same way we did then. But we managed to win and I think we deserved to win. We had some mistakes on both ends of the floor, but overall I am happy with how my team played”, said Sasa Obradovic after the game.