Pari Nizhny Novgorod beat Lokomotiv Kuban on the road and surpass in the standings — 73:63 (22:20, 13:12, 23:15, 15:16).
Game progress
In the game for the 5th place, teams had 10 wins in 18 games. The winner not only could break away, but also came closer to MBA.
It was not easy to determine the favorite by the first half. With Andrey Martiuk actions, Loko got ahead, but the forward had 2 early fouls and went on the bench. And although he was successfully replaced by Chris Horton, several three-pointers brought the guests back into the game. In the second quarter, the roles changed — now Loko had to catch up. But the hosts could not regain the lead by the end of the first half, although and-one by Josh Gray at the very end allowed the hosts to had a minimal score difference — 35:32, Pari NN led.
Key moment
The second half began with Dragan Apic and Nikola Rebic 7:2 run. And after a spectacular fastbreak, which ended with Aleksandr Chadov dunk, the difference became dangerous for Loko — 44:34. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Josh Gray gave the fans hope for a comeback with a three-pointer, but Nizhny responded with another mini-run that increased the lead to 14 points.
In such circumstances, Loko lost a chance to catch the opponent in the ending. Until the end, Pari NN confidently had comfortable lead and getting the 11th win of the season and surpassing Lokomotiv Kuban in the standings.
Key factor
4 three-pointers out of 18 by Loko – Pari NN defense was on top. The Volga team also did not score well from behind the arc, but they made 7 long-range attempts, which affected the result.
Fact
The last time Pari NN defeated Lokomotiv Kuban in Krasnodar was in 2014. Dmitriy Khvostov and Evgenii Baburin played in Nizhny Novgorod both then and now.
Leaders
Lokomotiv Kuban: Andrey Martiuk (14), Chris Horton (11 + 10 rebounds), Josh Gray (11), Jaylen Barford (9 + 9 rebounds + 5 assists)
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: Maxim Salash (13 + 7 rebounds), Dragan Apic (13 + 5 rebounds), Ivan Strebkov (10 + 6 rebounds)
Next games
Lokomotiv Kuban: road game versus Zenit on January 10
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: home game against CSKA on January 10
