Lokomotiv Kuban missed a 14-point comeback at home, but still has the win against MBA — 73:65 (19:18, 21:18, 17:12, 16:17).
Game progress
Loko had 15 wins and in the case of success not only broke away from MBA even more (13 wins), but also bypass Pari Nizhniy Novgorod in the fight for the 4th place. But the situation is much more complicated for MBA – the team started the second stage of the regular season with 4 loses in a row.
Despite this, it was not easy to determine the favorite in the first half. The starting quarter turned out to be not very productive, but very persistent. During the quarter, the leader had changed for 9 times. The second quarter was almost the same: although closer to the halftime, Loko took the lead, but the MOscow team trailed not a lot. Zakhar Vedishchevmade a three-pointer and set the final score of the first half – 40:36 – the hosts lead.
However in the second half, MBA had problems in offensive. The guests could not score from the paint in any way – only three-pointers helped the team. After Jaylen Barford bright segment, the Krasnodar team got a double-digit lead for the first time (50:39), and at the beginning of the final quarter, Loko had a 14-point lead.
Key moment
However, MBA still had the strength to make a comeback. An 8:2 run initiated by Andrey Lopatin reduced the distance to 3 points – 65:62. The game turned into a clutch. But with the score 71:65, Makar Konovalov missed 2 free-throws. Loko took the rebound and managed to find Chris Horton in the paint, who ended the game with a dunk. Loko wins the 16th game of the season and bypasses Nizhniy Novgorod in the Betting table, moving to the 4th line.
Key factor
The “big” Loko players put an almost insurmountable barrier to the IBA players in their “paint” — for the entire match, the guests got out of the three-second zone only 7 times out of 20 attempts.
Fact
In the new year, the IBA still cannot find its game: after a brilliant victory over Zenit, Muscovites have already suffered 6 defeats in a row. However, the pause in the championship allowed the team to cope with the injuries of the leaders – both Makar Konovalov and Andrey Lopatin took part in the match and were the most notable players of the capital’s team in the end.
Leaders
Lokomotiv Kuban: Jaylen Barford (17), Zakhar Vedishchev (13 + 5 assists), Chris Horton (11 + 8 rebounds + 3 steals)
MBA: Makar Konovalov (18 + 6 assists), Andrey Lopatin (14), Timofey Yakushin (10), Evgeniy Valiev (9 + 6 rebounds)
Next games
Lokomotiv Kuban: home game againstZenit on March 7
MBA: home game versus CSKA on March 7
