Uralmash got its first home win of the season against Lokomotiv Kuban – 84:78 (21:17, 19:24, 30:19, 14:18)
Game progress
The start of the game was tight. Loko won the rebounding battle (4 offensive rebounds by Jordan Morgan, 3 by Andrey Martiuk), but modest two-point shooting prevented Aleksander Sekulic team from taking the lead with second-chance points.
Garrett Nevels fuelled Uralmash offense, showing the best performance in both teams – 11 points and the Yekaterinburg team lead by the halftime – 40:41.
Key moment
Octavius Ellis had started his performance: rebounds, steals, three dunks and 13 points in less than six minutes. Uralmash had a double-digit lead before the final quarter.
However, Loko got back into the game. With three minutes left, the difference was only 3 points, but from that point on, the Krasnodar team refused to score three-pointers: the guests missed four straight shots, and Ellis didn’t forgive the Krasnodar team for their missed attempts – another four points by the American player and a timeout by Sekulic. Vladislav Emchenko immediately made a turnover on the next possession, and the head coach let the reserves into the game and agreed with the game result.
Key factor
Octavius Ellis made an excellent debut for Uralmash: 24 points, 8 rebounds, 11 of 14 from the game, 37 eff. points and a key solo run at the start of the third quarter.
Fact
Both teams showed poor free-throw shooting accuracy in the League average. PARMA was 14th before this game with 63.2% – Uralmash and Loko got 61.1% (11 of 18) and 47.1% respectively (8 of 17) tonight.
Leaders
Uralmash: Octavius Ellis (24 + 8 rebounds), Garrett Nevels (20 + 5 rebounds), Tyrell Nelson (10), Aleksandr Zakharov (10 + 5 assists).
Lokomotiv Kuban: Aleksandr Scherbenev (16), Andrey Martiuk (12 + 6 rebounds), Jordan Morgan (12 + 10 rebounds), Jaylen Barford (12 + 3 steals), Okaro White (11).
What’s next
Uralmash: October 19 on the road against UNICS
Lokomotiv Kuban: October 18 on the road versus Enisey.
