Moscow’s MBA defeated Saratov’s Avtodor at home, 103–73 (25–19, 33–17, 29–15, 16–22).
Main Story
The hosts took the lead right from the start. In the first quarter, the Saratov team tried to keep up with their opponents thanks to the efforts of Wendell Green. But the second period began with a 12-point run by MBA. The Muscovites didn’t stop there. Solid defense and quick transitions on offense allowed them to build a substantial lead by halftime—58–36.
Unlike in the teams’ previous matchup, this time the Muscovites came out for the second half fully focused. Not only did they prevent a Saratov comeback, but they also extended their lead even further. Late in the third quarter, following a three-pointer by Dmitry Sonko, MBA’s lead reached the “30+” mark—82–51. It wasn’t until the final 10 minutes that the home team took their foot off the gas, but even that didn’t prevent them from securing a convincing victory.
X-Factor
Team offense was the key to the home team’s success in this game. The Moscow team set a new club record for assists this season—28. In addition, seven MBA players each scored 10 or more points.
Interesting Facts
Thanks to today’s victory, MBA has climbed to 7th place in the standings.
Avtodor’s losing streak has now reached four games.
This is the second time this season that the Moscow team has scored 100 or more points.
Today’s victory was MBA’s biggest of the current season.
Press Conference
MBA Head Coach Sergey Voznyuk:
– During halftime, all we talked about was that we’d already built a solid lead, but our advantage in Saratov was exactly the same. We emphasized that we needed maximum concentration in the second half. We worked on correcting our mistakes. And, of course, we didn’t want to repeat what happened in Saratov. We stayed focused and moved the ball well. The energy was excellent. We lost the fourth quarter, but overall, everyone played the way we wanted today. We completely controlled the game.
Avtodor Head Coach Rostislav Vergun:
– I probably wouldn’t draw any parallels with our first game against MBA, because today our opponent completely controlled the game from the very first minutes. The Moscow team was much more aggressive; they won practically every one-on-one battle, the rebounds, and all the loose balls. I guess they wanted to win more today. I’d like to believe that, with all due respect to MBA, we aren’t that much weaker. Our opponent’s victory today was absolutely well-deserved, so we need to draw our own conclusions. For me, certain things are unacceptable in basketball. There were too many of them today for us to hope for any kind of serious result. If that’s okay with anyone, then we’re probably not on the same page. We were crushed today; I’m ashamed in front of our fans. Losses can happen, but they should look a little different.
Top Performers
MBA: Artem Pivtsaikin (14), Andrey Malinin (13 + 6 rebounds), Maxim Ogarkov (13), Pavel Savkov (13), Alexander Khomenko (11 + 5 assists), Dmitry Sonko (11), Dmitry Khvostov (10 + 6 assists)
Avtodor: Wendell Green (24), Curtis Hollis (19)
Up Next
MBA: November 14 at home against Dynamo
Avtodor: November 21 at home against BETCITY PARMA.
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