Lokomotiv-Kuban Russia defeated VEF Latvia on the road, 71-69 (19-22, 17-20, 20-15, 15-12).
Top Scorers
VEF: Alex Perez (18), Ken Brown (12), Paul Carter (10 + 5 reb), Mareks Mejeris (10 + 7 reb)
Lokomotiv-Kuban: Joe Ragland (18), Jonas Maciulis (13), Mardy Collins (12)
Story
Lokomotiv-Kuban survived a wild VEF comeback, hanging on for a 71-69 win to stay in control of 3rd place. Riga trailed by nine, 68-59, with a little more than a minute to go before an 8-0 run cut the deficit to one. But Loko forward Mardy Collins nailed a huge jumper and Alex Perez missed a chance to force overtime, giving Krasnodar the win.
VEF was looking to make a move in the playoff chase, entering the game tied for 8th place with PARMA and Tsmoki-Minsk. And for the first 20 minutes, the Latvians were dominant,
Riga drained six 3-pointers in the 1st quarter and outscored the Railwaymen by three in each of the first two periods.
Leading 42-36 at halftime, VEF’s offense went cold over the next two periods. The visitors put on a defensive clinic for the first 18 minutes of the half, holding Riga to only 16 points, while building a nine-point lead.
Trailing 68-59, VEF nearly pulled off an improbable comeback, forcing three consecutive turnovers to make it a one-point game, 68-67.
After trading baskets, Loko big man Jonas Maciulis went 1-2 at the line, giving VEF a final opportunity to win the game or force overtime. But Perez came up empty and the Railwaymen went home with a second straight win.
Lokomotiv improves to 15-6 and 3rd place. VEF drops to 7-15, tied for 10th with Astana.
Stat
13-2 – Lokomotiv won, despite making only two 3-pointers, compared to 13 for VEF.
Quotes
VEF head coach Janis Gailitis:
– Our opponent today was a very strong team in Lokomotiv-Kuban. We played well. We showed heart and desire, but sometimes made the wrong decisions. We also weren’t very confident to start the second half. But we showed our character and didn’t fold. As a result, we’ve had several losses like this by a narrow margin. Now we need to prepare for the final two games of the regular season: We can still make the playoffs.
Lokomotiv-Kuban head coach Sasa Obradovic:
– We missed a lot of open shots today, which led to a stressful finish. VEF, on the other hand, shot the ball very well, especially in the first half. We didn’t expect Perez to be so aggressive, for example. On our end, we had too many iso possessions, instead of moving the ball. We have an experienced team, but at the end we made some uncharacteristic mistakes, which could have cost us the win.
Up Next
VEF: April 30 home vs. Astana
Lokomotiv-Kuban: May 5 home vs. Enisey
Images of the Game
