Lokomotiv Kuban beat Enisey on the road – 86:82 (23-15, 31-34, 12-21, 20-12).
The best scorers
Enisey: Casper Ware (24 + 10 assists + 5 rebounds), Sergey Balashov (10)
Lokomotiv Kuban: Errick McCollum (23), Alan Williams (17 + 9 rebounds), Alexandr Shcherbenev (14 + 6 assists + 5 rebounds), Ivan Paunic (10)
Game progress
Loko (5-6) arrived in Krasnoyarsk with a 3-losses streak – the Krasnodar team have not won in the new year yet. Enisey (3-9) was in 9th place with a slight gap from the playoff zone.
The first points were scored 3 seconds after the start – Jaylen Barford scored. But after that, for a long time, the teams could not score, and the numbers on the scoreboard remained the same. Alan Williams fixed it – Loko bigman made his first 3-pointer in 3 seasons in the League.
But if the Krasnodar team somehow adjusted their offense, then the hosts continued to experience problems with the offense. Enisey scored first points almost 5 minutes after the start of the game.
But by the end of the 1st quarter, the teams improved their performance. Casper Ware became the leader of Enisey offense with 6 points, and Stanislav Ilnitskiy scored the most for Loko – the captain did not miss and scored 7 points.
At the start of the 2nd quarter, Enisey was 8 points behind, but with Alexandr Gudumak actions on rebounds and 7 points in a row, he quickly reduced the difference to a minimum. Loko reacted to this instantly, speeding up the pace of the game. This helped the Krasnodar team to go on a halftime as the leaders (54:49), but Enisey felt quite comfortable in fast basketball. The Krasnoyarsk team set the team high for the season, scoring 34 points in a quarter.
And after the halftime, Enisey continued chasing the guests and eventually caught up with the opponent by the middle of the 3rd quarter. And Alexandr Gudumak put his team ahead for the first time in the game – 62:61. Having managed to stop Loko offense (the best in the League according to stats), Enisey came to the last quarter with a 4-point lead. And Casper Ware scored the buzzer-beater before the 4th quarter.
The hosts held the lead throughout the 4th quarter, but Loko did not allow the opponent to break away in the score.
The key moment
A little over 2 minutes before the end of the 4th quarter, Vladislav Trushkin scored 3-pointer, increasing the difference to 4 points – 78:74. The coaching staff of the guests immediately took thetimeout, after which Andrey Martiuk and Errick McCollum equalized the score in 40 seconds and forced Drazen Anzulovic to take a timeout.
But Enisey failed to get ahead in the next possesion, but Errick McCollum found contact while shooting 3-pointer and had 3 free-throws 34 seconds before the end. Loko guard scores 3 out of 3 and in response, the Krasnoyarsk team did not score.
Alexandr Shcherbenev, scoring 2 free-throws, increased the guests’ lead to 5 points, but the end of the game has not yet been set. Casper Ware gave Ensiey hope by scoring 4 consecutive free-thorws. However, Casper could not turn the game into overtime, having missed 3-pointer twice in a row.
Numbers
34 – the number of points Enisey scored in the 2nd quarter. The Krasnoyarsk team set a team high for the season in performance per 1 quarter.
Hero
Errick McCollum. The guard became the best scoring player of the game with 23 points and scored the decisive free-throws in the last minute of the game, giving Loko 1st win this year.
Comments
Drazen Anzulovic, Enisey Head Coach:
– First of all, I would like to thank the players for playing with great desire and diligence. Congratulations to Loko on the win. In the key moments of the game, in the end, they played smarter. However, we gave them this chance.
Branko Maksimovic, Lokomotiv Kuban Coach:
– I am very happy for the VTB League and all the clubs that we still have the opportunity to continue the championship. I believe that the current situation will be a great opportunity for young Russian players who are actually very talented. They will have a great opportunity to prove themselves, get more game practice and get their career development. Given the situation, such a swing in the game is absolutely expected. Before the game, we talked about the important aspects that need to be done to stop the opponent’s attacking game, not to allow Enisey to take defensive rebounds. I am very glad that the team completed the task and won.
What’s next
Enisey: home game against CSKA on March 11
Lokomotiv Kuban: road game versus Tsmoki-Minsk on March 20
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