Runa in its debut regular season game at home beat Avtodor – 87:79 (27:27, 25:20, 21:13, 14:19)
Game progress
The teams started to score a lot from the first minutes. Runa players worked well together and led teammates to make open shots. Four players finished with five points, including Jeremiah Hill and Juwan Morgan. Kyle Vinales and Aleksandr Petenev stood out for Avtodor, scoring a combined 17 points for their team – 27-27 and parity on the scoreboard after 10 minutes.
After an active first quarter, the Saratov team slowed down. Runa made fast possessions, and the guests couldn’t keep up with them on the defensive end. However, Dominic Mavra and Rayshawn Hammonds duo brought their team 10 points in a row with their aggressive play till the end of the half, cutting the hosts lead to five points – 52-47 by the halftime.
Key moment
Runa continued to work hard on defence, making life difficult for Avtodor defense, then steadily ran to a fast offensive possession and scored easy points. The score difference reached 13 points and the hosts entered the last quarter more relaxed.
The Moscow team allowed to relax, but a floater by Hammonds cut the lead to five points with 1:41 to go. It didn’t affect the final result – Runa still held the advantage and made their VTB League debut with a win over last year’s Playoffs participant.
Key factor
A short run at the start of the third quarter played a key role. Runa was clear on defence and immediately accelerated the offense with Hill and Morgan actions. Avtodor scored only 13 points, and Milenko Bogicevic team failed to make up for it.
Fact
11 out of 12 Runa players scored points.
Leaders
Runa: Cameron Young (17), Nikola Ivanovic (14 + 5 assists), Juwan Morgan (10 + 5 rebounds).
Avtodor: Kyle Vinales (24 + 8 assists), Rayshawn Hammonds (21 + 6 rebounds), Dusan Beslac (10).
What’s next
Runa: 6 October on the road against Uralmash.
Avtodor: 5 October at home against MBA.
