Enisey Krasnoyarsk defeated Nizhny Novgorod on the road, 85-79 (26-13, 19-26, 18-18, 22-22).
Top Scorers
Nizhny Novgorod: Stevan Jelovac (16 + 11 reb), Dmitry Uzinsky (16), Jake Odum (16), Maxim Grigoryev (13)
Enisey: Zabian Dowdell (23 + 7 ast), Vitaly Liutych (16), Denis Zakharov (14), Vladimir Pichkurov (12)
Story
Enisey kept its slim playoff hopes alive with a road win in Nizhny Novgorod, hanging on for a 85-79 victory after building a big first-half lead.
The visitors scored the first eight points of the game and led 22-9 late in the opening period. Denis Zakharov set the tone with two triples from beyond the arc early on and Zabian Dowdell added nine of his game-high 23 points in the 1st quarter to jumpstart Enisey’s offense.
Leading by as much as 17 points midway through the 2nd quarter, Enisey saw its lead shaved to six at halftime, giving up a Jake Odum three on the final possession of the 2nd quarter.
Though Nizhny Novgorod never led in the second half, the home team kept the score close, cutting the deficit to two, 79-77, late in the 4th quarter. Odum made three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt and Stevan Jelovac knocked down a triple to put a scare into Enisey.
But the visitors responded with a 5-0 run from Vladimir Pichkurov, who finished with a season-high 12 points, to close out the victory.
Impact
Enisey improves to 5-14, having won two in a row. Krasnoyarsk remains in last place, but with five games remaining still has a shot at making the postseason.
Nizhny Novgorod falls to 7-13 and into a three-way tie for 7th place with VEF and PARMA.
Stat
+4 – This was a very evenly matched game. Enisey, however, was slightly better at getting to the line and converting, knocking down 25 of 29 attempts, compared to 21 of 27 for Nizhny.
Quotes
Nizhny Novgorod head coach Zoran Lukic:
– I want to congratulate our opponent on a completely deserving win. My team came out unfocused today. I can’t say that’s true of every player, but we are one team, so I won’t single anyone out. I explained to the players the entire week that our opponent would be loose and relaxed and playing without pressure. Before we realized that, the outcome of the game had been decided in the 1st quarter. Because of this loss, we’ve practically lost hope of making the playoffs.
Enisey assistant head coach Sergey Vasilyev:
– I want to thank everyone who cheered for us today. I know a lot of people watched the game in Krasnoyarsk and were rooting for the team. This was an excellent, high-intensity game. Nizhny missed some easy shots at the beginning of the game, which gave us an advantage in the 1st quarter. It was even from then on. At the end, we hit some tough shots, played defense and grabbed two big rebounds, which essentially decided the outcome of the game. We prepared the team to play aggressively, since Nizhny Novgorod is tough and physical against any opponent. That’s why there were so many fouls on both ends. The technical was mostly the coach’s emotions.
Up Next
Nizhny Novgorod: April 22 home vs. Zenit
Enisey: April 22 home vs. UNICS
Images of the Game
