PARMA beat Avtodor on the road – 85:75 (18:15, 21:19, 20:28, 26:13)
Top scorers
Avtodor: Mouhammadou Jaiteh (16 + 6 rebounds), Markel Starks (15 + 8 assists), Michael Umeh (12).
PARMA: Mareks Mejeris (23 + 10 rebounds), Adas Juskevicius (16 + 5 assists), Eigirdas Zukauskas (14 + 7 rebounds).
Story
Avtodor (4-9) lost 4 last games and fell to 12th place. PARMA (5-9) via 2 victories outran Sratov in standings and were 11th. Saratov started with 6-0 run in 2 minutes, but couldn’t develop it. Later, there was 5-minute episode when the hosts scored only 1 point. Perm with the help of Mareks Mejeris’ efforts, who refused to miss that night, took the control over the game and won starting quarter – 18:15.
Nikolai Zhmako, Robert Jonson and Mejeris made PARMA’s lead double-digit (25:15). Avtodor, who hit only 1 three-pointer in the first half (1 of 9) started driving in the paint and via Markel Starks’ efforts didn’t let the opponent take the big lead – 34:39 after 20 minutes of play.
PARMA after switching sides were controlling the game only till the middle of the third. At that point Avtodor started making threes: Michael Umeh twice and Elgin Cook (49:50). Avtodor found the rythm and with the help of fans took the lead before the decisive quarter (62:59).
The hosts started final quarter with Alexey Babushkin’s deep shot but then offense came to a halt. Ural after another makes by Mejeris and Lorenzo Williams took the lead again (71:67).
Key moment
PARMA didn’t only take the lead but gained the initiative till the end. The key to success was defense. Perm didn’t let Saratov to score a single field goal in 5 minutes creating a double figures lead in the fourth (83:70). There were no ending: outscoring the rivals in last 10 minutes twice (26:13), Ural gained 3rd straight victory and prolonged Avtodor’s losing streak to 5.
Hero
Mareks Mejeris. Center held a near perfect game: 10 of 10 from the field, 3 of 3 from the charity stripe, 23 points and 10 rebounds with 1 turnover. 35 efficiency points – repeat of season’s best 5th result.
Stat
50 – the bigger part of PARMA’s points were scored from the paint.
Comments
PARMA head coach Kazys Maksvytis:
– We are glad that we managed to take such a tough win on the road. We were preparing seriously. During almost all game we were controlling the situation and defending well, that was a key to the win. In the third it was defensive mistakes that threw us of the rythm a bit. But I’m really satisfied that the team showed spirit and got back into the game. We are glad to be in a play-off zone of VTB league.
Avtodor head coach Predrag Krunic:
– Congratulations to PARMA on the victory. I think that overall we showed good defense. But it is necessary to make our shots to win. In the second half we played better offensively, but made some mistakes on defense that PARMA made benefit of in key moments. I’d like to thank the fans for support, which was crucial for us tonight. Guys did their best to win, but PARMA was better.
Next
Avtodor: February 2 at Lokomotiv-Kuban
PARMA: February 2 vs Enisey
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