Yekaterinburg’s Uralmash defeated Moscow’s MBA at home, 101–85 (25–17, 25–24, 26–28, 25–16).
Main Story
The hosts came out strong. They took the lead, played confidently in the first quarter, and built a double-digit advantage—31–21—early in the second quarter. But the Ural team was unable to build on that success right away. The Moscow team found their rhythm on offense, scored several key baskets, and evened out the game. As a result, by halftime, the teams had maintained their respective positions. MBA kept the match competitive, while Uralmash held onto a comfortable 9-point lead—50–41.
The Clutch Moment
After halftime, the teams’ leaders stepped up. Pavel Savkov’s accurate shots kept MBA in the game during the third quarter. In the final 10 minutes, however, the home team’s guard, David Efianayi, took center stage. His accurate shots, as well as his assists to Timofey Gerasimov, allowed Uralmash to extend its lead. With two minutes remaining before the final buzzer, the “factory team’s” lead reached “+18”—96–78.
X-Factor
David Efianayi’s standout performance was the key to the home team’s success. The Uralmash guard made 12 of 15 field goals (4 of 6 from three-point range) and scored 31 points.
Interesting Facts
Uralmash secured its third consecutive victory and solidified its place among the top six teams.
Uralmash set a new club record for points scored in a single game this season, surpassing the 100-point mark for the first time.
David Efianayi set a new personal scoring record in the VTB League with 31 points.
Last season, MBA defeated Uralmash in all four regular-season games.
Press Conference
Head Coach of Uralmash Anton Yudin:
– First and foremost, I’d like to congratulate my team on the victory. Yes, perhaps not everything went smoothly during the game, and not everything turned out the way we’d hoped, but on offense today we played some very good basketball. We made a lot of mistakes on defense and lost our focus at times, but in the end, we allowed only 16 points in both the first and fourth quarters. I believe that our defense was the key to this victory.
I’d also like to give a special shout-out to the fans: three thousand people, a great atmosphere. I can only hope that even more people come to every game. A big thank you to them for truly creating such an atmosphere at the games right now.
MBA Head Coach Sergey Voznyuk:
– Overall, we have to give credit to Uralmash for the first quarter: from the very start, our opponent played more aggressively than we did. 25 points in the first quarter is okay, but the question is what kind of shots those were. We allowed our opponents to take a lot of open shots and run their offense, playing rather soft on defense from the very start. I believe this allowed Uralmash to find their rhythm and stay ahead the entire time.
At halftime, we made some adjustments. For the first three or four minutes of the second half, we managed to find our rhythm on defense, which allowed us to launch fast breaks and play more aggressively on defense. But overall, we weren’t able to build on that momentum. Uralmash’s advantage in the fourth quarter was undeniable; we couldn’t keep up with the home team’s pace.
Top Performers
Uralmash: David Efianayi (31), Chris Clemons (15 + 7 assists), Timofey Gerasimov (11 + 5 rebounds), Octavius Ellis (10)
MBA: Pavel Savkov (24 + 6 rebounds), Danil Pevnev (12)
Up Next
Uralmash: November 14, away against Enisey
MBA: November 10, at home against Avtodor.
