Dmitry Kulagin got Lokomotiv going with a turnaround jumper but Wilbekin answered with a driving layup and Micheal Eric scored down low for a 4-2 Darussafaka edge. Ragland followed free throws with a driving layup but Wilbekin struck from downtown to put Darussafaka ahead again, 7-6. Trevor Lacey answered from beyond the arc but so did Howard Sant-Roos and Baygul to boost the hosts’ margin to 13-9. Qvale hit back-to-back jump hooks for Lokomotiv but Stanton Kidd and Cummings scored in penetration as Darussafaka stayed in front, 17-13. Kulagin scored twice around the basket before JaJuan Johnson hit a jumper and Wilbekin made an acrobatic, buzzer-beating runner for a 21-17 Darussafaka margin after 10 minutes. Mardy Collins found his first points early in the second quarter and Lacey downed a jumper for the guests, but an unstoppable Wilbekin answered with a triple, a driving basket and a free throw, all good for a 27-21 lead. Qvale kept pacing Lokomotiv with consecutive baskets, making Darussafaka call timeout at 27-25. Sant-Roos buried a three-pointer but free throws by Collins and a floater by Pavel Antipov got Lokomotiv within 30-29. Wilbekin downed one from beyond the arc but another close basket by Qvale and free throws by Kulagin tied it at 33-33. Wilbekin – who else? – sank another triple and Ozmizrak copied him at the halftime buzzer for a 39-33 Darussafaka lead at the break.
Collins and Johnson traded jumpers soon after the break. Collins kept pacing Lokomotiv with a jumper from the elbow but free throws by Furkan Aldemir and a triple by Cummings made it a nine-point game, 46-37. Lokomotiv called timeout before free throws by Aldemir and Johnson made it a double-digit game, 49-37. Ragland followed a three-pointer with a layup off a steal and soon added a driving basket to bring Lokomotiv back to life, 49-44. Wilbekin reappeared then to make 6 of 6 free throws to boost his team’s lead to 55-45 after 30 minutes. Ragland buried a triple early in the fourth quarter but Cummings erased it with a layup-plus-free throw. Lokomotiv struggled to score for several minutes, missing 8 consecutive shots and picking up a turnover on Frank Elegar’s fourth foul. Darussafaka still led 58-48 midway through the final quarter before Chris Babb drilled a wing triple and Ragland’s bank shot made it 58-53 with 3:37 to play. Qvale hit 1 of 2 free throws next, but Wilbekin responded with a long isolation triple at 61-54 with 2 minutes left. Johnson and Ragland traded layups, but now only 37 seconds remained and the difference was still 6 points, 63-57. Cumming scored then as Lokomotiv’s defense took chances, and free throws by Sant-Roos extended the lead to 67-59 with 26 seconds left, triggering celebrations throughout Volkswagen Arena.
Lokomotiv Kuban becomes the EuroCup Silver Medals Winner of the 2017/2018 season.