Lokomotiv-Kuban beat UNICS at home – 86:77 (18:14, 27:17, 22:31, 22:15).
Top scorers
Lokomotiv Kuban: Sam Dekker (18 points + 5 rebounds), John O’Brien (16 points + 9 rebounds + 6 assists), Dmitry Kulagin (14 points).
UNICS: Errick McCollum (22 points + 6 assists), Jamar Smith (18 points), Alex Tyus (13 points + 6 rebounds).
Story
The beginning of the game between two teams from top-5 was taken by UNICS, Alex Tyus scored 8 points (10:6). Lokomotiv answered back with steady performance of their bigs: John O’Brien and Alan Williams let them end the first quarter as a leader (18:14). It was a tight game until the middle of the second, but just before the halftime break Lokomotiv started playing harder. Three pointers by Will Cummings and Dmitry Kulagin let Lokomotiv play a very good part of quarter and made a run (10:2, 35:28) and were up by 9 after 20 minutes of the game (42:31).
Only in one and a half minute in the second half UNICS turned the game around and took the lead again: Jamar Smith and Errick McCollum hit threes and Artem Klimenko made a dunk – 12:0 and 43:42. In the third Kazan scored the same amount of points as in first half. However, Lokomotiv stayed as spectators for not a long period of time and followed the UNICS tempo. Overall, Lokomotiv ended third quarter with 2-point lead via efforts of Alan Willams and Dmitry Kulagin(64:62).
During the last quarter Lokomotiv rearranged their defence and didn’t let UNICS score points that easy. Another three pointer from Jamar Smith at 5 minutes before the buzzer let UNICS set up their lead (70:74), but Lokomotiv continued to push.
Key moment
One of the Lokomotiv’s advantages was the moment when several players was a threat to their rival (five players scored more than 12 points). During last minutes Lokomotiv with the help of Williams, Cummings, Dekker and Vitaly Fridzon made an 8 points lead (82:78) and controlled the game until the final buzzer. Lokomotiv with 2-1 record made it really close to the leaders, and UNICS now have negative record(1-2).
Stat
892 – this is the amount of days since Lokomotiv beat UNICS last time in the league. They won their principal rival for the first time since may 2017.
Hero
John O’Brien. American player performed really well on both sides of the court – 16 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists in 28 minutes.
Comments
UNICS head coach Dimitris Priftis:
– It was a really hard week for us, two hard games on the road. I can’t remember how much time we spend in planes. Speaking about the game, we looked good at the beginning of the third quarter, made a good push, took the lead, but couldn’t make it to the win. Some of our players played with injuries, and this influenced our game a lot, especially against such strong team as Lokomotiv. We go forward, we have an important game against Hoventood and we are thinking only about it”.
Lokomotiv-Kuban head coach Luca Banchi:
– It was a tough game against very good team. We played first twenty minutes very well and “threw out” Smith and McCollum from the game, but it the third quarter their leaders did their best, hitting unbelievable shots. Probably this part of the game could crush us, but I’m really glad that we managed to stay concentrated and I’m proud of my players that played really well in game changing minutes and made it to the win”.
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