Russian club tightened the defense in the second quarter and started building the lead. They finished the second quarter leading by 9 points thanks to Kelly McCarty and Argentina international Carlos Delfino.
Despite managing to come as close as four points, Lietuvos Rytas was unable to hold on that deficit. Khimki mande a run to keep their half time lead. 53-62 for the Russian club before the final period.
Just when it looked that the game was slipping away for Rytas as they were down by 13 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, they made an impressive 17-0 run to take the lead. Since then Khimki players could recover. Lietuvos Rytas captain Steponas Babrauskas hit a couple of three pointers to seal the win for his team 80-74.
Marijonas Petravicius was named final MVP with 20 points and 7 rebounds.
Lietuvos Rytas will play in Euroleague next season after earning the ticket the hard way. Meanwhile, Khimki has a tough task in Russian league in order to play in the elite club competition next year.
80 (22+13+18+27) – Lietuvos Rytas: Marijonas Petravicius 20, Steponas Babrauskas 18, Chuck Eidson 14, Milko Bjelica 9, Arturas Jomantas 8, Donatas Zavackas 8, Mindaugas Lukauskis 3.
74 (22+22+18+12) – Khimki: Kelly McCarty 20, Carlos Delfino 16, Vitaly Fridzon 11, Timofey Mozgov 11, Jorge Garbajosa 5, Maciej Lampe 5, Anton Ponkrashov 4, Mike Wilkinson 2.