Report

Loko sets the club’s scoring record!

A 3-point extravaganza by Karvel Anderson in the first half and an inspired performance by the entire team in the second one allowed Lokomotiv Kuban to beat Astana with a crushing score of 127:84.

When the Basket Hall scoreboard showed the lineups an hour before the game, it turned out that the Johnson’s duel is delayed – the Kazakhstani one, who scored 25 points in the previous game, was left out of the roster. Dmitry Uzinsky was missing for Loko. His place in the lineup – as well as the captain’s armband – was given to Kirill Temirov.

Also, Astana did not enlist their 220-centimeter center Andrei Desyatnikov, so Andrei Martyuk won the opening jump ball quite easily – and scored the first points of the game (as, by the way, he did three days ago).

Both teams worked well in defense, but Lokomotiv was doing better in attack, and in the middle of the quarter Vsevolod Ishchenko and BJ Johnson made it 12:6 with a spectacular alley-oop.

Anton Kvitkovskikh scored from another fine pass by Ishchenko; Patrick Miller showed what happens if you relax for a second guarding him; and then… Then Karvel Anderson unleashed his long-range cannon! From the dribble, from the pass, from one angle, from another – he scored 4 three-pointer already in the starting quarter!

Uzodinma Utomi was good for Astana – he scored 11 points in the first 10 minutes, including a long-range shot at the buzzer, which returned the gap in the score from double-digit values ​​to single-digits, 30:22.

As soon as the 2nd quarter began, Anderson scored from afar again. Five out of five – wow! And as soon as Astana started checking Karvel tighter, Antonius Cleveland scored two 3-pointers in a row – 40:24 by the 14th minute.

Soon Vladislav Emchenko scored all 3 free throws in one approach, Mikhail Vedishchev deftly (and effectively!) ran under the hoop, after which he immediately pressed his opponent hardly, forcing a 8-second rule violation. Looked like Loko had no problems with the eagerness.

Astana stayed in the game due to TJ Starks and Danila Pokhodyaev efforts: the former scored from under the hoop, the latter from mid- and long-range. This allowed the visitors to turn “–21” into “–9” at some point. But Miller and Kirill Yelatontsev managed to make it 58:47 before the big break.

In the 3rd quarter, the opponents engaged in a quick exchange of attacks, with the red-greens gradually increasing their lead. Isaiah Whaley scored three points; Miller, closely surrounded by three opponents, found a way to score; Cleveland bounced the ball off the backboard and dunked – 76:60 by the middle of the period.

After a dunk by Yelatontsev, a 2+1 by Whaley and a steal by Yemchenko that gave Cleveland enough time to stop and look around before slamming it down, the score was 88:70.

Loko looked greatly inspired, and Astana, on the contrary, seemed to have their power switch turned off. The five graduates of the Krasnodar Academy put on a show that delighted the stands time after time. There were great long-range shots: Temirov, then Yemchenko twice (first; second). And the ball moved like a sightseeing to behold. Ishchenko and Mikhail Vedischev ended up with 6 assists each. And every on of the 12 players in the Krasnodar team roster scored at least 6 points.

Loko won with a 43-point margin (so far the largest in the new season in the entire league) and a club record for points (127 – the previous one stood since February 2018, when the Georgian Vita was smashed by Krasnodarians with a score of 121:71).

Now Lokomotiv Kuban will go on a three-game road tour. On Sunday, September 29, at 4 PM they will play MBA-MAI, on October 2 – Avtodor, on October 6 – Zenit.

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