SARATOV, Central Russia -- CSKA Moscow beat Avtodor Saratov three games to one in the best-of-five final series to secure its seventh-straight Russian basketball title with an 84-76 win in Game 4 in Saratov.
Despite huge vocal support from some 2,000 local fans who packed the 1,500 Zvyozdny arena -- with some even hanging from the balcony -- CSKA led through out the game Tuesday and it seemed as though Avtodor was losing the all-important mental battle to the army team.
Only once in the entire contest was Avtodor able to take a short lead at 59-58 on a 3-pointer by Andrei Maltsev with 11:39 left in the second half.
But just seconds later, Sergei Panov answered that with his own three-point effort, and the Muscovites never looked back, taking advantage of several turnovers by the home team.
And after guard Guntars Vetra stole the ball from the Avtodor defender at midcourt for a breakaway dunk, making the score 76-72 in favor of CSKA, many fans headed for the exits.