Nizhny Novgorod Russia defeated Tsmoki-Minsk Belarus at home, 77-70 (13-22, 18-16, 27-9, 19-23).
Top scorers
Nizhny Novgorod: Vladimir Dragicevic (27 + 7 reb), Evgeny Baburin (13), Anton Astapkovich (10 + 7 reb)
Tsmoki-Minsk: Devon Saddler (30 + 5 reb), Aliaksandr Kudrautsau (11)
Story
Tsmoki started the game with stifling defense, limiting the home team to only 13 1st-quarter points. The Dragons were led by Devon Saddler, who dropped 10 in the period. Nizhny slowed the visitors’ momentum in the 2nd quarter, but failed to catch Minsk by halftime (38-31).
The halftime break played into Nizhny’s hands as Zoran Lukic made the right adjustments to his team’s play. 10 straight points from Vladimir Dragicevic, a 15-3 run, and Tsmoki quickly found itself in a hole. Nizhny went on to take a double-digit advantage and close out the victory with relative ease. With the defeat, Minsk misses out on a chance to escape last place, finishing the season in 14th.
Владимир Драгичевич колотит сверху, @BC_NN совершает рывок 19-0 в 3-й четверти против @TsmokiMinsk 🏃♂️
Vladimir Dragicevic SLAMS, Nizhny Novgorod runs 19-0 in 3rd Q vs Tsmoki 🏃♂️ pic.twitter.com/EnJeIDDGaw
— VTB United League (@VTBUL) April 28, 2019
Star
Vladimir Dragicevic. The Montenegrin forward sparked Nizhny’s decisive 3rd-quarter run and finished with a season-high 27 points (his former best of 25 vs. Khimki lasted only two weeks).
Stat
27-9 – Nizhny tripled up Minsk in the 3rd quarter to secure the win.
Quotes
Nizhny Novgorod head coach Zoran Lukic: “First of all, I want to congratulate our opponent. They played a good game and played hard. Same to my colleague Rostislav Vergun. With his arrival, Tsmoki-Minsk has become a much different team than the one we played in October in Minsk. You can the coach’s impact and the improvement on the squad.
As for us, we had a terrible first half. We went into overdrive in the 3rd quarter. Our defense was excellent and we did a great job reading the game. Our short bench and several players’ fatigue had an impact in the final period. Unfortunately, two players on our team didn’t help their teammates today and essentially played for the opponent. We need to figure out why that happened, since I’m not happy about what I saw from them.
Nonetheless, brave for a good second half. I additionally want to commend Anton Astapkovich. Yes, he missed some open shots at the end, but it was fatigue at that point.”
Tsmoki-Minsk head coach Rostislav Vergun: “We had a pretty good start to today’s game. Perhaps the ease with which we took the lead backfired on us. The guys thought they were going to win too early. We paid for it in the 3rd quarter. Nizhny is a tough team with unbelievable support at home. They started playing their brand of basketball and we stopped punishing them for the super-aggressive defense. We simply collapsed.
I have to point out that with our current roster, we have to play with 6-7 people. Unfortunately, today I can only compliment a couple of players.”
Photos
