Lokomotiv-Kuban defeated UNICS on the road in Game 3 of the quarterfinals, 83-71 (19-19, 27-19, 15-18, 22-15).
Top Scorers
UNICS: Latavious Williams (16+8 reb), Keith Langford (15), Coty Clarke (13+7 reb), Quino Colom (12+7 ast)
Lokomotiv-Kuban: Taylor Rochestie (21+5 ast), Matt Janning (18), Ian Vougioukas (15+5 reb)
Recap
For the second consecutive game, Lokomotiv held UNICS below 40% from the field, largely neutralizing Keith Langford and Anton Ponkrashov. The result? A momentum-shifting win on the road that puts Krasnodar in the driver’s seat, 2-1, in the best-of-five series.
Taylor Rochestie led Krasnodar’s offense once again, scoring 21 points on 7-13 shooting. Matt Janning added 18, going 4-5 from downtown.
Up five points entering the 4th quarter, Lokomotiv limited the home team to 15 points on 4-14 shooting down the stretch to secure the win.
Game 4 is scheduled for Friday in Kazan. Loko can advance to play CSKA in the semifinals with a win, while UNICS hopes to force Game 5 in Krasnodar.
Stat
36-14 – Lokomotiv outscored UNICS by 22 points in the paint. Kazan needs to solve Krasnodar’s interior defense to stay alive in the series.
Quotes
UNICS head coach Evgeny Pashutin:
– We defended very poorly today. We allowed 83 points and lost a lot of individual battles. Rochestie and Janning caused the most problems and had too much space. They even started getting layups at the end. Janning scored 13 points on us off the bench in the first half. We weren’t able to handle their snipers. Rochestie has scored 20+ two games in a row and we haven’t found someone to stop him, even though we’ve tried different options.
On offense, we depended on our shot too much, forcing us to dish to the perimeter or pass through 2-3 players. Next time, we need to be more aggressive, drive the ball and move the ball better on offense. We have one more game and we need to defend better in order to win. With the exception of the 3rd quarter, when we only gave up 16 points, we didn’t have an answer for our opponent.
Lokomotiv-Kuban head coach Sasa Obradovic:
– I think we deserved to win because we preserved the atmosphere and attitude that we got from Game 2 in Krasnodar. I liked how the guys played on offense and that they stopped the opposition. Of course, we would like to end the series here in Kazan. We’ll see how it goes for us.
Up Next
Game 4: May 12 in Kazan, 7:00 PM MSK
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