Following a good tradition, Loko holds a meeting with fans at the end of every season.
The current event turned out to be one of the largest in history: more than 550 spectators gathered in the stands of the Basket Hall on the evening of June 5. One should also count 60 season ticket holders who became participants in the Friendship Cup – a basketball mini-tournament, where Loko players form mixed teams with fans.
The Friendship Cup was first held in the 2014/15 season. Its format has long been established: four teams play semi-finals, and then a 3rd place game and the final.
In the semi-finals, the “Ogurchiki” (Gherkins) team won against the “Kubantsi” (Kubanoids) team 29:25, and the “Black Mamba” team defeated “Red Arrow” 27:21. The third place was won by the “Red Arrow”, but, alas, the exact score of this game is lost.
Because the final turned out to be like the recent playoffs – truly tense: no one wanted to lose, and in the last minutes, Anton Kvitkovskikh and Dmitry Uzinsky performed a decent 3-point duel. In the end, the Black Mamba won with a score of 39:38, for which, in addition to Kvitkovskikh, Patrick Miller and Kirill Yelatontsev played.
Then the press conference began, where every fan could ask any question to the players and coaches.
There, among other things, we acknowledged that in order to feed the entire team, you need nine pizzas, and BJ Johnson’s favorite holiday is Father’s Day. In order to grow as tall as Andrei Martyuk, according to the player himself, you need to eat well, sleep a lot and listen to all the recommendations of the coaches. Antonius Cleveland said that when he first arrived in Russia last August, he did not take summer clothes with him because he thought it would be cold in Krasnodar. John Jenkins called Kobe Bryant the most difficult opponent he ever played against, and Miller, as a child, dreamed of becoming like Allen Iverson.
The press conference ended with the prizes giving: Miller received a statuette from the fan sector, which symbolizes that he was the one who most often won the fan’s “Man of the match” voting throughout the season. Miller was also presented with a game photo album from his personal fan club. And the whole team received a large celebratory cake.
The event ended with an autograph session. It lasted about an hour and a half, but none of the players even thought of complaining, because the 2024/25 season turned out to be very memorable, and it was a little sad to say goodbye to it.
The photos of the event you may find here. We also have a video:
In the coming days, the American players will fly home, and the rest will have two more weeks of training. Then the whole team will have a vacation until the end of July, after which the pre-season for the next championship will begin.
And now, we say goodbye to the 2024/25 season! It was cool, but we want more!
