Lokomotiv Kuban beat PARMA-PARI and got the 10th win of the season — 88:86 (25:19, 23:22, 22:20, 18:25).
Game progress
Loko needed to win this game — after Pari NN beat Samara, NN took the 5th place. Well, PARMA-PARI wanted to extend its winning streak to 3 games in a row.
Almost until the end of the first half, the game was equal and sometimes the hosts had slight advantage. Loko constantly had 5-7 points lead, but in the second quarter Pavel Antipov led PARMA to reduce the score difference to a minimum – 35:34.
The Krasnodar team still had the lead at end of the first half: Chris Horton and-one and Ivan Paunic two-pointer allowed Loko to return a comfortable lead — 48:41 by the halftime.
At the start of the second half, Jaylen Barford helped Loko to make a double-digit lead. Dmitrii Uzinskii and Darrall Willis threes almost knocked out the guests, increasing the difference even more, but Tylor Ongwae and Vladislav Perevalov brought PARMA-PARI back into the game – 70:61 by the end of the third quarter.
Key moment
Anton Kvitkovskikh three-pointer at the beginning of the fourth quarter seemed to leave no chances for the guests – 78:63. However, PARMA found the way from such situation. Justin Roberson and Malik Dime drives to the paint and Gleb Sheiko 2 important threes did not allow the hosts to relax.
17 seconds before the end of regulation, Barford fouled on Bryon Allen – 3 free-throws and only 2 points Loko lead – 87:85. A tactical foul was made by the guests and Darral Willis made only 1 out of 2. The guests had only 5 seconds left, but Chris Horton blocked Justin Roberson three-point attempt and Malik Dime foul and free-throws did not mean anything.
Loko win the 10th game of the season and continue their battle for the 5th place with Nizhny Novgorod. Their face-to-face game will be in the next round.
Key factor
Chris Horton. Loko newcomer in his debut game a few days ago immediately became the best scoring player of the team. On the day of his debut in Krasnodar, Horton again came off the bench, replacing Martiuk, made 15 + 9 in 22 minutes, made 4 steals. But the main thing is that at the decisive moment bigman successfully did not allow Roberson to score a key three-pointer. Horton defense can become a key factor for Loko not only in this game, but also during the entire regular season.
Fact
PARMA-PARI lost 15 of 16 games against Loko. The last time the Perm team defeated Loko on the road was back in 2006, when Ural Great represented Perm, and Lokomotiv was based in Rostov-on-Don.
Game Leaders
Lokomotiv Kuban: Jaylen Barford (17 + 5 rebounds + 5 assists), Chris Horton (15 + 9 rebounds + 4 steals), Darral Willis (14), Andrey Martiuk (10)
PARMA-PARI: Justin Roberson (22 + 11 assists), Malik Dime (13), Tylor Ongwae (11 + 3 interceptions)
Next games
Lokomotiv Kuban: home game against Pari Nizhny Novgorod on January 5
PARMA-PARI: road game versus Avtodor on January 4
