From the very beginning, Astana did its best and ran quickly. Loko tried as hard as they could to slow the game’s pace down. In the first quarter, Joe Ragland made 3 steals, got 10 points, and took Krasnodar to the lead – 19:12.
Astana didn’t fall out of the game and attempted more and more downtown shots. They got the first one only after the 6th attempt but the worst was ahead. They attempted 29 and shot 13 threes in the game. After the second quarter, Loko had a 8-point advantage. Ragland had already got 18 points.
The third quarter had to determine the game but a 14-point advantage of Loko ahead of the last period didn’t guarantee fans relax ending. In the final 10 minutes, Kazakhstan successfully attempted 7 of 10 threes -6 of them were in a row. Loko still controlled the game. Ragland was good at cuts and downtown shots. Mardy Collins tried to finish the game with a captain shot but missed. 79:78 and 9 seconds for Astana’s offense. However, Loko’s defense was fantastic. The opponent didn’t even shoot the ball. Lokomotiv Kuban gets out of the losing streak in the domestic championship.
Loko won 13 of 18 games of the regular championship. The team takes the fourth place in the standings.
