Tsmoki-Minsk Belarus defeated Nizhny Novgorod Russia on the road, 91-82 (18-25, 28-19, 18-17, 27-21).
Top Scorers
Nizhny Novgorod: Stefan Jelovac (22 + 8 reb), Vladimir Veremeenko (21 + 6 reb), Ivan Strebkov (11 + 5 ast)
Tsmoki-Minsk: Christopher Czerapowicz (24 + 6 reb), David Kravish (23 + 5 reb), Devon Saddler (18 + 6 reb + 6 ast)
Story
Three triples from Ivan Strebkov and four points from Vladimir Veremeenko in his Nizhny debut helped the home team race to a 20-4 lead.
Ты не ты, когда надо забить на исходе владения! Ivan Strebkov and @BC_NN 👏 pic.twitter.com/VsqA9FMuvM
— VTB United League (@VTBUL) November 12, 2017
Only momentarily stunned, visiting Minsk went to work over the final minutes of the 1st quarter, slicing the deficit to seven points, led by David Kravish.
Tsmoki stayed hot in the second period, draining six 3-pointers to take a 46-44 lead at halftime. After trailing 20-4, the visitors outscored Nizhny 42-24 to end the half.
Turning Point
Leading 76-73 with 4:30 to play, Devon Saddler helped Tsmoki take control of the game with a contested layup followed by a pull-up ‘3’. The Dragons didn’t look back, securing a big nine-point win on the road to spoil Veremeenko’s debut and improve to 3-3 on the season. Nizhny falls to 1-3.
Stat
22 – Nizhny’s three-point field-goal percentage. The Russians had twice as many attempts (31-15), but made only one more 3-pointer (7-6).
Quotes
Nizhny Novgorod head coach Zoran Lukic:
– After our recent win in the Europe Cup, I said we were still astronomically far from playing serious basketball. My words were confirmed today on the court. We only gave up four points in the first five minutes, but 87 in the final 35. What else is there to say? After taking out our starters, the subs were supposed to bring energy. Instead, the opposite occurred. Our opponent punished us today for playing soft.
Tsmoki-Minsk head coach Alexander Krutikov:
– Congratulations to my team on the win. This was a tough game. We started poorly. We couldn’t stop them in the pick-and-roll, on the perimeter or under the basket. Then we were able to stabilize the game a little bit and found our rhythm in the 2nd quarter. We let them score a lot of points, but made our own shots. In the second half, we had the momentum. Even when our opponent made a comeback, we were able to put the fire out quickly. I think using two point guards helped us in the final minutes.
Up Next
Nizhny Novgorod: November 19 home vs. Kalev
Tsmoki-Minsk: November 19 home vs. Avtodor
Snapshot
