Nizhny Novgorod beat PARMA on the road – 72:67 (13:14, 17:14, 21:16, 21:23).
Top scorers
PARMA: Boris Savovic (16), Marcel Ponitka (13), Lorenzo Williams (12).
Nizhny Novgorod: Kasey Shepherd (26), Andrei Vorontsevich (11), Artem Komolov (9).
Story
PARMA (9-11) fight against Avtodor for the play-off zone, in case of win their chances would have get higher. Nizhny Novgorod (12-7) via 4 consecutive victories climbed up to 5th place.
Crucial game was like play-offs. The opponents were tight at defense, were not high-scoring. In the first half there were 6 lead changes, 11 ties, and the maximum gap was 5 points. PARMA struggled from the charity stripe, Nizhny’s players were attempting lots of threes, but weren’t really efficient. By the second half the score was 30:28 in Volga favor.
The third quarter was in Nizhny’s favor. The guests started to score from the paint where Aleksandr Gankevich and Andrei Vorontsevich were good. NN managed to get double digit lead, by the final quarter they were up by 7 – 55:41.
In the fourth Kasey Shepherd turned on for Nizhny, he was keeping PARMA at a comfortable distance. Another guard’s driving points with 50 seconds left almost decided the game, but Boris Savovic answer and a turnover by Shepherd let Perm bring the intrigue back – 63-66 with 35 seconds left.
Key moment
In the remaining time PARMA had to foul intentionally. Shepherd recovered there. The American hit all of his 4 free throws and brought Nizhny 5th consecutive victory.
Nizhny took revenge on PARMA for Molot defeat in 2019/20 season (-35) and settled on the 5th spot, Perm are still in top-8.
Hero
Kasey Shepherd. The only double digit scorer on the winners roster. 15 from 24 points Kasey scored in the fourth quarter.
Stat
20 – PARMA’s turnovers. Nizhny scored 25 points off the turnovers (8 for Perm).
Comments
PARMA head coach Kazys Maksvytis:
– Congratulations to Nizhny Novgorod on the victory. This season they look good both in VTB League and Champions League. As for our team, I’m satisfied with the energy, but we lacked quality. We made 20 turnovers, it’s too much for a crucial game. Some of them were forced by Nizhny’s tight defense, but most of them we did ourselves. We played well at defense, but weren’t confident at offense, that influenced the game.
Nizhny Novgorod head coach Zoran Lukic:
– It was a tough game for both teams. I think it wasn’t really fun to see for fans. But it’s reasonable. I am happy for my guys, for their attitude and I’m proud of them. In such conditions they show spirit and discipline. That’s why we won tonight.
Next
PARMA: April 14 vs Zenit
Nizny Novgorod: April 14 @ Khimki
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