A lucky for Loko omen showed up at the beginning of the game: the Krasnodar team’s first shot was successfully accomplished by Dmitry Uzinsky; this time – from behind the three-point line. But there was a nuance: Yenisei had already scored 2 points by that moment. Soon Andrey Martyuk showed his sniper talents in an unusual way, scoring with a hook. A little later, Jaylen Barford added 3 more points – 8:4 after two and a half minutes, nice start.
By that time, the opponents exchanged shots swiftly and accurately, and no one managed to lead by more than 4 points. Xavier Ratan-Mayes scored 12 points in the 1st quarter, and Loko’s scoring leader was Uzinsky with 8 points and not a single miss. Yenisei led 27:25 by the first break; if both teams had continued to follow this tempo, each would have surpassed the 100-point mark by the end of the match. Sparkling!
In the first seconds of the 2nd quarter, Kirill Temirov answered Jeremiah Martin’s 2 points with 2+1. The next minute became a benefit performance for Vladislav Yemchenko: first, he desperately burst in under the opponent’s hoop and scored a very hard lay-up, then forced Vladimir Karpenko to foul in attack – 30:31. But Martin scored 2, then Rathan-Mayes 3+1 – and it turned into 30:37. Few seconds later, the hosts grabbed 3 rebounds in a row at Loko’s post, so Alexander Sekulić had to take a timeout to cheer up the team, which rapidly fell behind the two-digits margin, 31:41.
As soon as the game resumed, Barford found himself under the undefended hoop, but he missed an easy lay-up. Rathan-Mayes, on the contrary, scored a difficult 2-pointer in the next attack – and here it is, the second timeout in a row from Sekulić. After the pause, there was another quick passing, and this time Maurice Ndour was accurate from under the hoop. But Yenisei continued to score too easily: Euhen Beliankou from the distance, Rathan-Mayes from approximately five meters, Mikael Hopkins with a hook. The difference even reached “–15” a couple of times. But Alexander Shcherbenev’s accurate long-range throw a couple of seconds before the siren for the long break reduced it slightly – 40:52.
And immediately after the break, Yemchenko reduced the margin a little more – 42:52. A graduate of the Loko system, now Yenisean Sergei Dolinin scored 2 in response, but Uzinsky again turned on his non-missing cannon – plus 3 points to Loko. The Krasnodar team started pressing furiously, stealed the ball, Okaro White scored with a foul, but failed to add the free-throw. Hopkins made it in from close range, to which Barford responded with a three-pointer, then, a couple of seconds later, he took the ball from Hopkins, got fouled and scored both free throws – now it’s 52:56. Oh, what a pursuit!
But Martin scored 2 from under the basket, then intercepted and passed to the recent winner of the sniper competition at the All-Star Game, Bo Beach III, which was precise from behind the three-point line, 52:61.
Uzinsky, this glorious captain, continued to hit the basket with 100 percent accuracy. Immediately, Rathan-Mayes restored the double-digit gap with a long-range bomb – 54:64. Loko at the momet seemed to lose sense in attack, making one difficult shot after another. Temirov even managed to score, but the margin dropped to the same mark as at the beginning of the quarter – 58:70.
And then came “JB-time”: Barford scored 5 points in 23 seconds, and a little later added an accurate three-pointer to them – 66:71 a few seconds before the end of the 3rd period! Yenisei’ Martin went into the aisle – but his lay-up was desperately blocked by Elatontsev, for whom a very impressive number of fans came to cheer. Will Loko be able to come back from “–5” in the final 10 minutes?
Rathan-Mayes continued to score in the 4th quarter, but at a much lower percentage. So, after Barford stole the ball from Karpenko and converted a fast break, the score turned to 72:75! Hopkins and White exchanged 3-point shots, then Rathan-Mayes and the same White exchanged two free throws. But then White broke the order, stealing the ball from Karpenko and passing it to Barford to the empty hoop – 79:80!
Rathan-Mayes missed his long shot, and Temirov made the same one in. Loko got ahead – for the first time since the 1st quarter, 82:80! Beliankou converted two free throws, but White scored 2+1, Martyuk blocked Karpenko’s shot and Barford made a three – 88:82! Balashov added 2 points to his record, in response to which Yemchenko scored 2+1. Rathan-Mayes also scored 2+1, but Loko already became unstoppable: Yemchenko put in two accurate long-range hits in consecutive attacks – 99:87 just 56 seconds before the end of the game!
And soon the Krasnodar team exceeded 100 points mark for the first time this season – it was Barford who brought his sniper score to 25 points.
101:87 – Lokomotiv-Kuban got its first victory in the second stage of the regular season and returns home in a good mood. On March 10, a super game awaits us at the Basket Hall – against CSKA.