Krasnodar welcomed the Permians with the April heat, and it was even hotter on the floor of the Basket Hall, where the quarterfinal battle quickly get into full swing. The controversial jump ball stayed with PARMA, but 3 seconds later Okaro White robbed BJ Johnson and after several passes opened the score with a long-range hit.
Not even half a minute had passed before the guests lost the ball twice more, forcing Evgeniy Pashutin to urgently take a timeout. Meanwhile, the scoreboard was already 5:0 – Okaro scored again.
When the game resumed, PARMA managed to find the right rhythm – by the middle of the quarter, they had only one miss from seven attempts. The red-greens justified the title of the most rebounding team in the championship and did a great job guarding posts – in just 3 minutes they took 5 offensive rebounds. The Krasnodar team acted persistently and aggressively in attack: Andrey Martyuk, in the style already familiar to fans, tested the strength of the Krasnodar arena rings, DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell took aim from behind the line, and Vladislav Yemchenko burst into the paint without a shadow of a doubt.
However, at 2 minutes before the end of the period, the Perm team still managed to get close to the hosts (27:26), forcing the Basket Hall stands to get hotter and hotter. The support of the fans clearly helped Loko: Dmitry Uzinsky and Maurice Ndour worked excellently under the basket, and the captain also fought tenaciously in defense: however, after his interception and a high-speed pass by Jaylen Barford, the latter fell straight into the arms of the spectators… And the lead of the “railwaymen” became wider all the more significant – after the captain closed the quarter with a well-aimed three-pointer, the score was 36:29, and this was only after 10 minutes of play!
During a short break, red and green hearts started trembling – the fans witnessed the marriage proposal on the video cube… Basketball unites! And a couple of minutes later, the accumulated energy of fans resulted in a deafening roar – JB opened the score in the second quarter with a 3-pointer!
Loko maintained its double-digit advantage for a couple more minutes, until PARMA reduced the gap to 6 points (49:43). But White’s three and Martyuk’s dunk returned the hosts to a comfortable margin.
Then Yemchenko made his mark on the three-pointer, and closer to the big break Akoon-Purcell became the soloist, giving the audience a real show-time: as if there was no resistance, he dunked, then hit from a long distance, and then turned White’s interception into a spectacular three-point buzzer – 67:51 . How long has it been since we saw 118 points scored in the first half?..
The long break definitely invigorated Evgeniy Pashutin’s team – after leaving the locker rooms, the opponents seemed to have switched roles.
The southerners had enough spectacular moments in the third quarter: for example, Anton Kvitkovskikh’s powerful dunk, after which not only the spectators started jumped in overwhelming emotions, but also Maurice Ndour, who made the assist. And yet, the Permians used their possessions more efficiently, which is why they surpassed the hosts in this quarter taken alone (14:25). However, the base created by Loko in the first 20 minutes was enough to retain the lead by the final period – 81:76.
At the very start of the 4th quarter, Yemchenko scored a very difficult lay-up. Then Uzinsky did not let the opponent cross the center line, intercepting the ball once again. Akoon-Purcell, who was surely on fire that evening, made the margin double-digit again with his 6th 3-pointer. Since then the distance between the opponents did not decrease to single-digit. Karvel Anderson, who burst into the game, demonstrated his sniper skills – fine debut!
With a loud whistles, the stands escorted outfouled Ruslan Abdulbasirov and BJ Johnson to the bench, and greeted Kirill Temirov, who came out onto the floor, with the same noise. What can we say about the decibel level when the final siren stopped the score at 112:85! Bravo, team! A beautiful and important victory!
The next game is scheduled at April 25, 8PM. Lokofamily, see you at Basket Hall!