Lokomotiv Kuban defeated Zielona Gora in Poland – 98:90 (28:21, 29:21, 22:26, 19:22).
The best scorers
Zielona Gora: Jaroslaw Ziskowski (25), Nemanja Nenadic (23 + 5 rebounds), Branden Frazier (16).
Lokomotiv Kuban: Darius Thompson (17 + 7 rebounds + 7 assists), Eric McCollum (15 + 7 assists), Stanislav Ilnitsky (13 + 6 rebounds), Alan Williams (13), Andrey Martyuk (12 + 7 rebounds), Stanton Kidd (10).
Game progress
Lokomotiv Kuban arrived in Poland in a great mood: taking into account the EuroCup, Loko had a series of five consecutive victories to their credit. Zielona Gora came to the game with 1-5 W/L rate .
The first 10 minutes passed in an equal battle: the guests quickly took the lead, but after a couple of minutes Gora drew the score. And yet, a mini-run by Errick McCollum and Alexandr Shcherbenev, as well as a three-point buzzer by Vladislav Emchenko, allowed Loko to regain the leader status – 28:21.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the hosts tried to reverse the course of the game by to long-range shots by Nemanja Nedic and David Brembley, but Krasnodar team responded with 3-pointers by Stanislav Ilnitskiy and Zakhar Vedishchev. And soon several successful plays by Andrey Martyuk brought the guests a confident lead by 10 points. At the end of the first half, the Thompson-Kidd duo appeared: the Americans added to the activity and provided Loko with a solid advantage by the halftime- 57:42.
The third quarter began with shots by Ilnitskiy and McCollum, and the guests’ lead reached 20 points. Nevertheless, Gora did not give up. Branden Frazier and Jaroslaw Ziskowski took the initiative in their own: one of his shots reduced the gap 12 points. Throughout the entire 10 minutes, Zielona Gora tried to arrange a chase, but Lokomotiv managed to interrupt the comeback every time. However, the Krasnodar team lead before the final quarter was no longer so impressive – 79:68.
The key moment
There was no ending. At the beginning of the final quarter, it seemed that Gora would still be able to return to the game: they confidently kept at a distance of 8-10 points and expected an opportunity for run. But Loko managed to add to the defense at the right moment and freeze the hosts’ offence – in 3 minutes the Polish team players scored only 1 point. In the other half, the guests acted no less effectively. After another shot by Stanton Kidd, 95:80 was on the scoreboard, and Loko could only calmly bring the game to an end – the seventh in a row in the rivalry history with the Polish team.
Hero
Darius Thompson – guard spent 32 minutes on the floor and was the key Loko offencive option – 17 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. The American also became the most useful player of the game, got 30 eff. points.
Numbers
6 – the number of Lokomotiv-Kuban players have scored 10 or more points. Effective basketball and excellent team play were the main reasons for success in today’s game
Comments
Oliver Vidin, Zielona Gora Head Coach:
– I think this was a good game for us, especially in second half. In first half we let opponent to hit some easy shot, they punished us after every mistake. This is the most offensive team in the league.
Evgeny Pashutin, Lokomotiv Kuban Head Coach:
– We know Zielona Góra play home very well. They are shooting team, they are dangerous, everyone can shoot. Apic is also good under the basket. At home they are much better in running and have twice more energy. In third quarter we made analysis, and started to play more patient. We had 26 assists and nearly scored 100 points, but we still have to look for improvement.
What’s next:
Zielona Gora: away game versus PARMA-PARIMATCH on December 6.
Lokomotiv Kuban: at home against CSKA on December 5
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