Nikola Mirotic leads Barcelona past Khimki

FC Barcelona stayed stop the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings by downing Khimki Moscow Region 87-74 at Palau Blaugrana on Wednesday. Barcelona improved to 11-3 in the standings and remained undefeated against Khimki at home with its sixth consecutive win against the Russian powerhouse. Meanwhile, Khimki dropped to 2-12 and is now on a six-game losing streak. Nikola Mirotic led the winners with 24 points. Cory Higgins added 20 points, Alex Abrines 13 and Pierre Oriola 10 for Barcelona, while Nick Calathes dished 12 assists. Alexey Shved led Khimki with 22 points. The guests also got 13 each from Sergey Karasev and Jordan Mickey. Barcelona led 32-25 at the end of a high-scoring first quarter, boosting its margin to 51-41 at halftime and then again to 69-53 after 30 minutes, never looking back.