After the opening jump ball, the ball went out of bounds, so the first possession went to the guests. At the 16th second, Xavier Rathan-Mayes made it clear that leaving him free on the 3-point line was a bad idea, and opened the score.
The next attack of the Krasnodar team did not bring any results, but Andrei Martyuk, tenaciously defending in the opposing half, forced Mikel Hopkins to commit an offensive foul, and a few seconds later Martyuk put all his power into a dunk.
Then, another Yenisei leader, Jeremiah Martin, flashed under the hosts’ hoop, scoring 2-pointer. And after Dmitry Uzinsky’s interception, Martyuk again caught a foul in the throwing phase, and two accurate free throws by the forwards reduced the Krasnodar team’s gap to a minimum. Another shot from Okaro White from the middle distance after the loss of the opponent got the red-greens ahead – 6:5.
Uzinsky strengthened the advantage by calmly sending a 3-pointer into the net like a real captain. And Kirill Yelatontsev, who was recently awarded the title of the best young player of the season, jumped into fight in the post, then remaining calm during free throws – 11:7.
But Rathan-Mayes also was confident, not allowing the Southerners to relax. And when Vladislav Yemchenko, after the visitors’ attack was thwarted by DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, brought the team another 2 points, young Vladimir Karpenko scored twice in a row for Yenisei – and again Loko’s advantage became minimal (14:13).
While the red-greens failed to score in the next attack, the Krasnoyarsk team had a chance to take the lead again, but Xavier Rathan-Mayes, after a foul on the 3-point line, scored only 1 of 3 free throws – a draw. The Krasnodar team responded quickly and clearly: with a pass from Jaylen Barford, Yelatontsev energized the stands with a dunk. But for the next 1.5 minutes the game was in the hands of the Krasnoyarsk team, and at the first short break Alexander Sekulić’s team met catching up – 16:18.
The second quarter, which began with a 2-pointer by Zakhar Vedishchev, was much alike a swing. Every time the hosts equalized the score, Yenisei ran ahead again – but not for long. Akoon-Purcell got on fire – and now Loko is ahead, 26:24. But the Krasnoyarsk team was not going to remain silent on offense for long, and for the 4th time in half the game period the score became equal.
Further, Okaro White and Akoon-Purcell, after the interception, showed excellent teamwork, scoring an alley-oop; Martyuk dunked again; Patrick Miller and Barford easily opened the enemy defense – but Yenisei had a response for each Loko’ attack. By the end of the first half it was 35:35. And then Rathan-Mayas once again scored from long range, and so hosts went into the locker room with a “–3”.
Soon after the restart Yenisei managed to secure an 8-point advantage (the biggest this evening), which made the hosts act more persistently. Yelatontsev demonstrated perfect accuracy, and Miller found fine opportunities to attack – 45:47.
But then there was a drought in the hosts’ attack, and after a series of inaccurate long-range attempts by the red-greens, the advantage of the opponent, who had no intention of slowing down, grew to double digits – 55:67 by the final quarter.
For a minute and a half in the final quarter, both teams failed to score. But then through the efforts of Barford, Maurice Ndour and Yemchenko, the Krasnodar team made the 6:0 and brought the intrigue back!
Uzinsky, who never tires of getting the most difficult rebounds off the backboard, again and again helped his partners get second chance points. His shot, that made the score 66:70, indicated the 3000th point of Loko this season!
But Yenisei snipers performed too good – “–11” for Loko in just a minute left. Akoon-Purcell still managed to score another 3-pointer, but there was no time for something else.
The next game will take place on April 23 at 8 PM. We are waiting for you at the first game of the quarterfinals against PARMA!