Lokomotiv’s roster for the game was rather surprising: the coaches gave Kirill Temirov a rest and brought in point guard Artyom Chevarenkov and forward Danil Sheyanov from the Superliga team, ORSS-Loko. Another recent reserve, Daniil Kosko, came out in the starting five.
Already in the 13th second of the game, Antonius Cleveland opened the scoring with a long-range shot. After a close-range shot by Aleksandr Gudumak, 5 points by Isaiah Whaley and a three by Patrick Miller, the score grew to 13:6. Then Cleveland put on a show: he stole the ball from Timofey Gerasimov and ran away so quickly that he had time to perform a mill dunk!
The timeout did not help Yenisei much: Karvel Anderson, who came on as a substitute, hit the target with two 3-pointers one after another – 21:6! Soon Sheyanov and Chevarenkov entered the game. Sheyanov got used to it very quickly – after his long shot the score became 24:11. The opponent, nevertheless, looked quite good: they quickly moved the ball, selflessly defended – and by the end of the quarter reduced the gap, 27:21.
Vladislav Yemchenko, who entered the game at the beginning of the 2nd quarter, added some fire, making two steals in a row. Then Miller had a striking stretch – 7 points in a row, and Cleveland once again made an impressive highlight: he blocked a long shot of the opponent, picked up the ball and scored from above. Then it was the turn of Aleksandr Gudumak to score 7 points in a row, and the game segment was finalised by a spectacular put-back by Sheyanov. As a result, by the big break, Loko increased their lead – 49:34.
In the 3rd quarter, the scoring pace dropped a bit, with both teams switching to 3-pointers: for Yenisei, Gerasimov scored more often, while for Loko it was Whaley and Anderson. The Krasnoyarsk team managed to get within 12 points from time to time, but the hosts each time moved closer to 20. Miller caught the flow, scoring and assisting a lot (he would eventually make a double-double of 19 points and 12 assists). At the end of the ten minutes, Lokomotiv Kuban increased its advantage by another point, 68:52.
Yenisei had no choice but to increase the pace. But this only helped in short periods – the Krasnodar team willingly got involved in a quick shootout and quite calmly kept a distance that did not allow any serious talk about intrigue. The hero of the 4th quarter can be called Dmitry Ushinsky, who, by the way, played his 250th game in the VTB United League. The Loko captain boldly found fouls on himself and threw free throws flawlessly. And Anderson eventually updated his sniper record for the season, scoring 20 points.
Lokomotiv Kuban will play their next game on Wednesday, January 29. It will be a home one again, Pari Nizhny Novgorod is coming to visit us. See you all at Basket Hall!