The whole summer – or to be precise, 90 days and 2 hours – passed since the last time Loko played official basketball (it was June 1 in the bronze series of the 2023/24 season). And here, finally, is a new game – all the more long-awaited because our team changed a lot during the offseason.
How will Antonius Cleveland, BJ Johnson and Isaiah Whaley perform in red and green colors? How will the updated coaching staff play the game?
The first tester of the Krasnodar team was Merkezefendi – a Turkish club with a 7-year history, which so far haven’t won something, but clearly intends to – before this season they were strengthened, among others, by Ben McLemore, the 7th number of the 2013 NBA draft, who is now hiding from American justice (but that is a completely different story).
If any of you say that you guessed the starting five for Loko in this match, we will never believe you: Patrick Miller, BJ Johnson, Kirill Yelatontsev, Anton Kvitkovskikh, Vsevolod Ishchenko – that very combination of experience and youth that the head coach promised.
It took 17 seconds for Johnson to score his first points for Loko – three at a time. Ishchenko looked relevant among the adults: already in the 3rd minute he elegantly launched a counterattack, as a result of which Miller set the score to 7:0. And when the opponent finally broke the deadlock, Kvitkovskikh scored 5 points in a row, summing up with a cool three-pointer – 12:2.
Merkezefendi gave heat in response: they scored two long-range goals in a row, tenaciously fought in defense. Our coaches changed the entire five (Andrey Martyuk, Dmitry Uzinsky, Isaiah Whaley, Antonius Cleveland and Mikhail Vedishchev came out), and the gap remained within three possessions – 17:10. Soon Cleveland demonstrated a versatile set of skills in just 5 seconds – he stole the ball and then dunked without a run-up.
And as soon as the opponent got close, Karvel Anderson reminded us what record he set last season – “+3” and 22:17! And yet the quarter ended with an equal score, 22:22 – Merkezefendi showed a couple of times how they keep all the top teams of the Turkish Super League aware.
The second quarter began with an exchange of precise two-point attacks. In one of the episodes, Johnson hammered the ball in the way that, we hope, he will show us a lot in the Basket Hall.
Soon Mikhail Vedishchev scored his first points for the main team – and also, like BJ, with a three-pointer!
But Merkezefendi fought back good and finished the half in their favor – 41:46. At the same time, the statistics showed some very pleasant numbers for Loko fans: 9 offensive rebounds, 6 steals, 3 blocked shots. The opponent, in turn, was much better in scoring: 50% versus 39% 2-pointers and 60% versus 27% in terms of long-range shots.
In the 3rd quarter, the score did not change for almost two and a half minutes, but then Johnson from afar, and Yelatontsev with a powerful putback made the numbers even. Whaley made two successful mid-range throws, Martyuk scored after a fine roll, Kasko showed his sniper skills – and now it’s “+6”!
And then Ishchenko fought back in defense, after which Cleveland dribbled under the ring and with a wild, sweeping dunk set the final score in the 3rd quarter – 62:54, what a run!
Ishchenko continued to shine at the start of the final ten minutes: he scored 2+1 and made the advantage the maximum for the entire match – 66:54. The Turks scored 2 points in response, but the same Ishchenko with a mid-range shot restored “+12” – bravo, Seva!
The score difference started to bounce in the early double-digit range. And after Anderson made it 79:62 with his signature shot, there was no doubt about the outcome.
Loko got its first victory of the new season, demonstrating not only a fine game, but also a strong will. The next preseason game is on Wednesday, September 4, at 5 PM. Opponent – Uralmash. Broadcast – also on Okko. Sport.
Lokomotiv Kuban – Merkezefendi 82:69 (22:22, 19:24, 21:8, 20:15)
B.J. Johnson – 16 points + 6 rebounds; Vsevolod Ishchenko – 11+8; Isaiah Whaley – 10+7+2 steals; Antonius Cleveland – 10; Anton Kvitkovskikh – 7+5; Patrick Miller – 6 + 3 assists + 2 steals; Mikhail Vedishchev – 6; Daniil Kasko – 4; Kirill Yelatontsev – 3+3; Andrey Martyuk – 2+4; Dmitry Uzinsky – 0+3.