Avtodor beat MINSK at home and got the third win in a row – 78:70 (20:13, 20:16, 11:24, 27:17).
Game progress:
Avtodor (9-15) and MINSK (1-25) had the 3rd and 6th places in the Group B. The Saratov team got 2 wins after the head coach change, MINSK had 15-game losing streak.
MINSK has been adding from game to game, and now, by the middle of the second quarter, Avtodor lead was only 4 points. DaQuan Bracey looked great and scored 14 points at 5 out of 10 from the game by the halftime. Brandon Garrett and Malik Newman scored more than 10 points. The last three-pointer helped to made a mini-run, which still allowed the hosts to create an 11-point lead at the end of the first half – 40:29.
MINSK started the third quarter with an 11:0 run and changed the game. The Belarusian team managed to keep this rhythm and win the quarter 24:11 – before the fourth quarter the Minsk team led by 2 points.
Key moment
Avtodor started the fourth quarter very well. Evgeniy Minchenko succeeded in defending the paint, after several good defensive possessions, Avtodor took the lead with the help of fast-breaks. Rostislav Vergun 2 timeouts didn’t change anything. Scott Machado and Danilo Nikolic added fire, the Saratov team started the 4th quarter with an 18-5 run, got a double-digit lead and continued to control the game till the end. Avtodor extends the winning streak to 3 wins.
Key factor
Scott Machado. Avtodor player brought the team back in the fourth quarter after not great third quarter. Machado scored 12 points (5 of 9 from the game), 9 of them were in the fourth quarter.
Fact
Avtodor with Vicentic won all 3 games and got as close as possible to the playoff zone, equalising with Samara, which retains the second place in Group B only due to additional stats.
Leaders
Avtodor: Malik Newman (18), Scott Machado (12), Brandon Garrett (11 + 6 rebounds), Danilo Nikolic (10 + 7 rebounds)
MINSK: DeQuan Bracey (20 + 5 assists), Uladzislau Blizniuk (18 + 5 rebounds), Zach Smith (11 + 8 rebounds)
Next games
Avtodor: road game against PARMA-PARI on February 26
MINSK: road game versus Samara on March 3
