Nizhny Novgorod Russia defeated VEF Latvia at home, 80-64 (15-20, 19-16, 20-12, 26-16).
Top Scorers
Nizhny Novgorod: Stevan Jelovac (16 + 8 reb), Ilya Popov (14), Petr Gubanov (13 + 9 reb), Vasily Martynov (10)
VEF: Mareks Mejeris (15 + 5 reb), Antwan Scott (10), Alex Perez (7 + 9 ast)
Story
Both teams struggled at times on offense in the first half. The home team gave up 10 turnovers, while VEF missed seven free throws, but still led by two at the break, 36-34.
Vasily Martynov, Dmitry Uzinsky and Ilya Popov gave Nizhny a 9-0 run to open the 3rd quarter. Entering the 4th quarter, Zoran Lukic’s club enjoyed a six-point advantage. Throughout the second half, the home team took better care of the ball and limited VEF’s chances inside the paint.
Stefan Jelovac, meanwhile, took care of the scoring. The Serbian forward scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half, helping Nizhny stretch the lead to double digits early in the 4th.
The home team went on to win comfortably, marking a triumphant return for Zoran Lukic, who took over the club in the summer. VEF drops to 0-2.
Stat
15 – Nizhny’s advantage in bench scoring. Gubanov’s 13 points were not a shock, but 18 combined points from Martynov and Uzinsky were one of the X-factors in the win.
Quotes
Nizhny Novgorod head coach Zoran Lukic:
– We won, no question. But the first half left some unpleasant impressions. As of now, there’s a lot of pressure on our young players and that was very obvious before halftime. Everyone expects them to win. Everyone expected it in Champions League qualifying and today’s game. But many forget that we only have three experienced players on our roster: Gubanov, Panin and Jelovac. Most are young guys. Some don’t have any experience in the VTB League. At halftime, we agreed to pick up the pace on defense and fast breaks. We made a few adjustments and they finally got going. Of course, we are still a long ways from playing serious basketball. We need to keep working and getting better.
VEF head coach Janis Gailitis:
– Congratulations to Nizhny on a win in their first game of the year. We played very poorly in the second half, especially at the beginning. We only shot 55% from the free-throw line, missed our field goals and lost confidence in ourselves as a result. Nizhny took advantage. At the end, their big men Popov and Jelovac were very good under the basket. We also lost the rebounding battle today: 38-27. That’s a big margin.
Up Next
Nizhny Novgorod: October 21 away vs. Enisey
VEF: October 22 away vs. Zenit
Snapshot
