The path of Loko-2010 to silver in the All-Russian competition was quite thorny. Last season, the young Krasnodar team lost to an opponent from Pavlovsky Posad in the 1/8 playoffs, but now they successfully passed all the preliminary rounds, and were undefeated in the decisive knockout games – until the final game against CSKA-SSOR (Sports school of Olympic reserve).
The starting jump-ball was won by the hosts, and Artyom Bukharenkov quickly opened the score with a long-range hit. A couple of free throws by Dmitry Krasnyakov, lay-up by Vladislav Ruban – and that’s how the advantage of the red-greens turned to 4 points (7:3).
However, CSKA soon leveled the score (9:9). Timofey Yakovenko’s breakaway and a difficult shot from the paint by Yegor Kostikov returned the southerners to their former advantage (13:9), but the Muscovites turned on their long-range artillery, and seized the lead by the end of the quarter – 15:17.
The next 7 minutes showed a poor scoring performance by the Krasnodar team: only 2 points, of which the opponent successfully took advantage of – 16:30 as an intermediate result.
At that point the hosts’ stalled attack was finally unblocked by the captain’s mid-range shot. Another hit by Kostikov with resistance, as well as clean free throws and Yakovenko’s three at the end of the half brought Loko-2010 back into the game – 25:32 to the end of the half.
During the long break, Vladislav Pavlenko’s team did some work on their mistakes, and when the match resumed they fought decently for the rebound, and acted much more persistently in the opponent’s half. Yet, by the final period, CSKA team still was ahead – 40:47.
Fine work in the three-second zone by Egor Kostikov allowed the red-greens to get within 5 points of their opponents (44:49), but then the Muscovite stroke back with a powerful run. Alas, the hosts were no longer able to turn the tide of this confrontation. 52:67 at the end – Loko-2010 takes silver.
Still, after the 10th place previous season, current silver is definitely a progress. Keep going, guys! We’re proud of you!