Loko beat Enisey and catch CSKA in number of wins

Loko beat Enisey and catch CSKA in number of wins

Lokomotiv-Kuban beat Enisey at home – 100:98 (24:29, 30:14, 20:19, 26:36).

Top scorers
Lokomotiv-Kuban: Nigel Williams-Goss (27 + 5 assists), Drew Gordon (24 + 5 rebounds), Stanislav Ilnitskiy (14), Mantas Kalnietis (6 + 10 assists)
Enisey: Dustin Hogue (21 + 5 rebounds), Timofey Yakushin (17), Mikhail Kulagin (15), Tyus Battle (14), Ilia Popov (10).

Story
The start of the game was Ilia Popov’s. He hit all of his 4 field goal attempts and gave Enisey the lead on the start of the game – 8:5.

Hosts’ head coach Evgeny Pashutin had to take time out and it helped turn off Siberians’ center. But Kuban didn’t manage to take over the game. In the shootout none of teams couldn’t get significant lead. Loko were good at quick offense and Krasnoyarsk surprised the opponent few times with back door play by Dustin Hogue and Sergey Mitusov. In this exchanging game the guests managed to save the lead and were up by 5 by the second quarter – 29:24.

The hosts pulled themselves together in the second quarter. They turned on on defense and rearranged the offense forcing the paint. This offensive scheme main hero was Drew Gordon. Kuban center scored 12 points that ensured Loko’s domination in the rest of the quarter. By the half time Krasnodar had a double-digit lead – 54:43.

The start of the thirs quarter was fully in hosts’ favor. Nigel Williams-Goss, Stanislav Ilnitskiy, Drew Gordon and Andrey Martyuk accurate shots started Kuban 9:0 run that increased Loko’s lead to 20 points – 63:43. But even then the Siberians didn’t give up. They set zone defense and started quicker transition. Guests’ comeback was led by Dustin Hogue, Aleksandr Gudumak and Tyus Battle. Via their efforts the gap was cut to 12 points by the final quarter – 62:74.

Key moment
Enisey managed to bring some intrigue to the ending of the game. Zone defense, Hogue and Battle efforts and joker Timofey Yakushin (14 points in a quarter) let the Siberians cut the gap to 8 points with a minute left before the buzzer – 84:92. The guests didn’t stop at it. Hogue and Mitusov accurate shots left only 4 points in Loko’s lead – 88:92, and Battle had a chance to cut the gap to the minimum.

As a result, time played against Enisey. The guests had to foul intentionally. Williams-Goss and Ilnitskiy weren’t perfect at the charity stripe shots but hit 8 from 10 attempts. It was enough for Loko to keep the lead till the end of the game.

Hero
Nigel Williams-Goss only spent his second game for Loko but already proved himself. In previous game he hit a game-winner against Khimki. In this game he was the brightest in clutch moments. He was cold-blooded at the free throw line that let Kuban save the lead. He scored 27 points and became the most efficient player of the game (25).

Stat
31 – Loko set season-high in free throws made.

Comments
Lokomotiv-Kuban head coach Evgeny Pashutin:
– I want to congratulate the team and the fans on the victory. After a long break it’s crucial to step on the court and win. The game was complicated. By the 4th quarter there were lots of positive moments but then we lost the concentration. We let Enisey sharp shooters take too many shots, made mistakes ourselves and weren’t good at offense against zone defense. But the most important is the victory.

Enisey head coach Drazen Anzulovich:
– We started strong, were controlling the game in the first quarter. Then we started to play slower, we felt lack of energy that we needed against such an opponent. The second quarter was the key moment in my opinion. At that point Loko managed to change the game. We started the second half awfully but managed to pull ourselves together and stop the opponent at 12-point gap. Then we tried to come back and we did it. But we couldn’t play smart enough in the ending to win the game.

Next
Lokomotiv-Kuban: March 13 vs Avtodor
Enisey: March 11 @ Zielona Gora

Photo 27/02/2021 Lokomotiv-Enisey 100:98