Avtodor Russia defeated Tsmoki-Minsk Belarus at home, 104-82 (29-23, 24-27, 25-14, 26-18).
Top Scorers
Avtodor: Branden Frazier (25 + 7 ast), Coty Clarke (24 + 8 reb), Justin Robinson (14 + 8 ast + 3 stl), Artem Klimenko (13 + 3 blk)
Tsmoki-Minsk: Devon Saddler (22), Maxim Salash (19), Chris Czerapowicz (13 + 5 ast), David Kravish (13)
Story
Branden Frazier and Coty Clarke combined for 49 points on 19-29 shooting to lift Avtodor over Tsmoki-Minsk in Saratov. The home team gave up 50 points in the opening 20 minutes and only led by three at halftime, but lockdown defense in the 3rd quarter helped Avtodor seize control and cruise to its 10th win of the season.
Tsmoki-Minsk was led by 22 points from Devon Saddler and outscored Avtodor in the 2nd quarter to make it a 53-50 game at the break. But the visitors never solved Saratov’s offense, giving up 61% shooting, including 66% from beyond the arc, to the home team.
The turning point in the game came early in the 3rd quarter. After Minsk forward David Kravish cut the deficit to one, 55-54, Avtodor put together an 11-0 run sparked by seven straight points from Coty Clarke.
The home team led by as much as 18 in the period and never let Tsmoki-Minsk threaten down the stretch, putting up another 26 points in the 4th quarter.
Avtodor improves to 10-9, one game behind 5th-place Khimki with two games in hand. Tsmoki-Minsk drops to 7-14 and 10th place, falling out of a tie for 8th place and the final postseason spot.
Stat
10-15 – The home team knocked down 2/3 of its three-point attempts, led by four triples from Frazier and a perfect 3-3 afternoon from Maxim Sheleketo.
Quotes
Avtodor head coach Evgeny Pashutin:
– I want to congratulate the entire team. This was a very important win for us, which helped us take another step toward the playoffs. There are a lot of games ahead and we are on the way to our goal. I’d note that we played very well on defense for three quarters today with the exception of the 2nd quarter, when we gave up 27 points. Our defense gave us the win. During halftime, we made adjustments and won the 3rd quarter by a score of 25-14. That was the decisive run. The guys dialed in, started helping each out, playing tougher, grabbing rebounds and controlling the tempo. We used a bigger rotation today. All 12 players saw the court and each of them contributed. We scored 104 points. That’s also an important stat for the way we play. We managed to find an ideal balance between halfcourt and up-tempo play.
Tsmoki-Minsk head coach Alexander Krutikov:
– Congratulations to Avtodor on the deserved win and a very good game. The home team managed to create some separation in the 3rd quarter. We tried different options and styles of defense, but none of them worked, unfortunately, largely because Frazier and Clarke played outstanding games. Against a team like Avtodor you have to play very quality basketball for the entire 40 minutes. Unfortunately, we had no answers for Saratov.
Up Next
Avtodor: April 22 home vs. VEF
Tsmoki-Minsk: April 29 away vs. Enisey
Images of the Game
