Our team’s starting lineup had some surprise: the appearance of Patrick Miller, Kirill Yelatontsev, Anton Kvitkovskikh and Kassius Robertson was expected, but Daniil Kasko was quite unusual to see. The Belarusian forward did not disappoint, starting the game with great energy. However, in the debut our entire five was good, which allowed Loko to take the lead, 8:3.
In response, Doğuş Özdemiroğlu and Jordan Usher scored a 3-pointer each making Türk Telekom ahead 8:9, which soon rose to 8:13. Gradually, the Lokomotiv coaching staff changed the five, and Vince Hunter‘s defensive grit allowed our team to level the game. And at the end of the quarter, Robertson returned to the court and with two consecutive shots from afar restored Loko’s lead – 18:15 by the first break.
The game became a bit more open in the 2nd quarter. Türk Telekom seized the initiative for a while and took a 1-3 point lead. But then Kvtikovskikh started to score: first he tied the game, and after Hunter’s offensive rebound, he put us ahead with a long-range shot, 31:28. The Krasnodar team spent the rest of the ten minutes being ahead. And in one of the episodes, Danil Sheyanov beautifully finished off an alley-oop from Miller – 41:38 at the end of the period.
After the side switch, Robertson scored again from afar, bringing the margin to 6 points. This noticeably spurred on Türk Telekom, who increased their aggression and tied the game again, and by the middle of the quarter, even took the lead. But with the score 49:51, Miller earned free throws and scored both, then Kasko made a profit of a quick transition with a fine reverse lay-up, and in the next attacking episode, Hunter in the paint gave a tricky bounce pass to Miller, which summed up Lokomotiv’s 6:0 run. However, the opponent recouped again – 55:55 before the final ten minutes.
In the 4th quarter, Türk Telekom continued to accelerate – neither Hunter’s dunk nor another 3 from Robertson prevented the Ankarians from taking a 7-point lead by the 35th minute. Kvitkovskikh scored a very timely 3-pointer, after which we successfully repelled the attack and Yelatontsev added 1+1 from the free throw line.
The Turks scored 1 point in response, after which Jeremiah Martin assisted to Miller, who was open on the arc – 71:71. The teams exchanged two-point attacks, then Robertson turned on his long-range cannon again – 76:73 in 1.35 before the siren! The opponent also tried to score from afar – missed, but Martin was merciless – now it’s “+5” with 1:11 left.
Mutual pressing began, Ata Kahraman scored from beyond the arc, but Miller made his first free throw in; after the second, Kasko grabbed the rebound – and that was the end of the game. 81:77 – Lokomotiv starts the training camp with a win!
Lokomotiv Kuban: Robertson – 17 points (5/6 three-pointers), 2 assists; Martin – 14 points, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 blocked; Kvitkovskikh – 14 points, 7 rebounds; Miller – 11 points, 6 assists, 2 steals; Hunter – 6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 block; Yelatontsev – 6 points, 3 rebounds; Konovalov – 5 points, 3 steals, 1 block; Sheyanov – 4 points, 3 rebounds; Kasko – 2 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists; Temirov – 2 points.
Türk Telekom: Bankston – 15+4; Usher – 14; Kahraman – 13; Özdemiroğlu – 11.
Loko will play their next match on Saturday, September 6 at 3:45 PM MSK. The opponent is the champion of the 2nd Turkish tier, Trabzonspor.