MBA defeated Pari Nizhny Novgorod in the regular season game – 87:80 OT (25:12, 12:19, 15:18, 20:23, 15:8).
The best scorers:
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: Maxim Salash (20 + 6 rebounds), Ivan Stebkov (15 + 6 assists), Aleksandr Gankevich (12 + 11 rebounds), Jermaine Love (11 + 6 rebounds)
MBA: Timofey Yakushin (19 + 5 rebounds), Andrey Lopatin (18 + 7 rebounds), Aleksandr Khomenko (15 + 5 interceptions), Evgeniy Valiev (14 + 8 rebounds)
Game progress
Pari Nizhny Novgorod had a 4-2 ratio – in the last round, NN defeated Loko, getting their first home win of the season. The League newcomer MBA lost to PARMA-PARI, CSKA and UNICS after three wins at the start.
The opening quarter was controlled by the Moscow team and made excellent use of their chances, focusing on transitions. Andrey Lopatin scored 7 points, Aleksandr Khomenko and Evgeniy Valiev made the guests lead – 25:12. Until the middle of the second quarter, MBA controlled the game, but then the Volga team made a 6:0 run with the help of Maxim Salash, who scored 4 points. Now Pari NN managed to limit the opponent to 12 points in 10 minutes, so by the halftime the Moscow team lead did not look so threatening – 37:31.
In the second half, the teams started playing at an even higher pace. NN finally began to score three-pointers. At some point, Nizhny even managed to seize the lead, but after a several made shots, MBA still led by 3 points before the fourth quarter.
Mikhail Belenitsky and Baburin threes allowed Pari Nizhny Novgorod to even the score in the last minutes, after individual skills was desecive. MBA once again took the lead with Khomenko and Ilya Platonov lay-ups – 68:63 for 1:11 before the end. The Volga team after a series of tactical fouls and a miss by Timofey Yakushin in one of the attempts got a chance to escape the loss. Salash broke in the paint and was fouled, he made the first free-throw and missed the second. Gankevich picked up the ball and equalized 0.8 seconds before the buzzer. In the remaining time, MBA failed to make a shot – overtime!
The key moment
Despite the unsuccessful end of the fourth quarter, MBA did not break down. Yakushin, who made a fatal mistake, scored 2 three-pointers, fresh Anton Pushkov, who came off the bench, dominated in the paint – 82:74. The hosts demonstrated their rigidity and scored 8 points. Maksim Lichutin even almost put Pari NN ahead, but he missed the three-point attempt 1.5 minutes before the end. After that, the necocmer did not miss his chance, which was given by Strebkov unsportsmanlike foul – MBA scored 5 points and snatched the win.
Hero
Timofey Yakushin. The guard completely corrected for the miss at the end of the fourth quarter. Having scored more than half of the team points in overtime (8 out of 15), Timofey became the best scoring player in MBA: 19 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
Numbers
4 – Vasily Karasev defeated Zoran Lukic four times in five games within the League.
What’s next
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: road game versus Zenit on November 7.
MBA: road game against Samara on November 6.
