It is a very pleasant feeling – the impatience of a fan before a game in which your team will fight for absolute leadership in the table. And not just for leadership, but for leadership with a 100% result.
Zenit fans had the same thoughts, so the atmosphere in the St. Petersburg Arena sport complex electrified well by the moment of the opening jump ball. And, of course, it was nice that Krasnodar fans were also in the stands.
Zenit scored first, but soon Anton Kvitkovskikh put Loko ahead – 6:5. Vsevolod Ishchenko sparkled in two attacks in a row, showing that he is equally dangerous in breaking in both from the right flank and from the left.
Both teams defended very well, but Zenit’s defense had no antidote to Kirill Yelatontsev’s putbacks. The first ten minutes were concluded by a 3-pointer from Antonius Cleveland – 17:15 in favor of the Krasnodar team.
After the game resumed, Cleveland produced an episode of a completely different level – he hammered in a dunk, as if not noticing the tight guard.
But three losses in a row – and now Zenit is ahead by 6 points, 19:25. In the following timeout, the coaching staff of Lokomotiv was able to adjust the dynamics of scoring: Patrick Miller broke through to the hoop, B.J. Johnson made a three-pointer, Andrey Martyuk rumbled finely in the opponent’s post. By the big break, the hosts continued to lead, but already at a distance of one successful throw – 32:34.
Zenit started the 3rd quarter with a scoring, but Martyuk very quickly tied things up: first he showed brilliant footwork, then he caught the alley-oop from Miller – 36:36.
That pushed in an alley-oop parade. Ishchenko found Isaiah Whaley with a paraboloid pass – that made Whaley catch a real rush: he scored in close contact, then from afar. The Petersburgers kept being ahead by 4-6 points for some time, but first Yelatontsev put it back throw from Cleveland, and then Cleveland himself showed some mid-range grandmastercraft.
Thanks to two precise free throws from Miller, Loko ended the period as leaders – 55:54.
Yelatontsev added 2 more points at the very beginning of the 4th ten minutes, but then there was a no-score time for a couple of minutes – Miller broke it, calmly converting free throws for an unsportsmanlike foul by Omari Spellman. After a brilliant assist by Miller to Yemchenko, Lokomotiv’s advantage became the biggest since the beginning of the game – 61:54.
Zenit did not give up: the team finally started scoring long-range shots. But Loko did the same! And not only Johnson scored, from whom this is expected, but also Miller. And thanks to a clever pass by Martyuk to Whaley and an acrobatic hit by Yemchenko, the Krasnodar team entered the clutch with a good margin, 73:69.
Cleveland didn’t let the intrigue flare up: first with a turnaround shot and then with a long-range one, he extinguished Zenit’s last two attempts to recoup.
Loko defeated a very strong opponent on the 10th anniversary of Zenit’s first appearance in the VTB United League.
Andrey Vedishchev’s team continues the best start in their history – the winning streak already counts 5 games.
The next three matches for Loko will take place at home: October 12 against Samara, the 16th against Uralmash, the 20th against UNICS.