Lokomotiv struggled to open the scoring until Royce Hamm made it from the free throw line. At the 3rd minute, Anton Yudin called for a timeout and let Patrick Miller and Anton Kvitkovskikh into the game. However, by the middle of the quarter, a long-range shot by Jordan Usher made it 5:16 in Türk Telekom’s favor.
After an aggressive defensive play, Kvitkovskikh made a steal and dunked on a fast break. The opposing team’s head coach was very dissatisfied with that and received a technical foul. Robertson and Temirov soon performed good perimeter shots, but the deficit remained double-digit – 19:29 by the end of the 1st quarter.
At the start of the 2nd quarter, Lokomotiv’s percentage was low – they got just 2 points in 5 minutes, giving their opponents a significant lead of 23:37. It’s also worth noting that our team had twice as many fouls called by this moment.
Nevertheless, the Krasnodar team managed to pull themselves together in the second half. Sheyanov and Miller scored. And with six seconds left in the first half, after a Turkish timeout, Robertson worked defensively and managed to score before the buzzer – 36:50.
The 3rd quarter began with Kvitkovskikh making three consecutive layups before finally scoring one. Miller earned free throws and made both, but that was followed by easy points for Telekom on the counterattack. Neither Hamm nor Jeremiah Martin could score, so at one point the opposition had a 20-point lead, 52:72. Finally, Temirov and Robertson scored from beyond the arc, and Temirov, at the end of the quarter, made a run to the defenseless hoop, making it 62:76.
Türk Telekom played the decisive part of the game more composedly: they responded to every successful attack from us immediately and even gradually increased their lead. With 4 minutes remaining, the hosts were leading comfortably – 87:69. Among our players, the only one worth noting at that point was Temirov, who continued to score from the perimeter.
With a minute and a half remaining, Kirill Yelatontsev was sent off with his 5th foul. A little later, the Turks counterattacked after a steal, but Usher missed a dunk, while Miller scored from distance. Sheyanov made the next steal, but he was immediately dropped, and scored 1 of 2 from the free throw line. Unfortunately, this had no big impact on the outcome – 82:96, the gap between the teams remained unchanged since the 2nd quarter.
Lokomotiv Kuban – Türk Telekom 82:96 (19:29, 17:21, 26:26, 20:20)
Lokomotiv Kuban: Robertson – 22+5 assists; Martin – 13+3 assists; Miller – 12+5 assists; Temirov – 11+2 steals; Kvitkovkikh – 10+5+2 steals; Konovalov – 5+3 assists; Hamm – 3+8; Sheyanov – 3+1 steal; Yelatontsev – 3; Popov – 0; Kasko – 0.
Türk Telekom: Marko Simonović – 18+9; Lamar Bankston – 16+8; Doğuş Özdemiroğlu – 10+5 assists; Jordan Usher – 10.
That game concluded the MELBET training camp schedule for Lokomotiv. Tomorrow, the team will move to Krasnodar to prepare for the start of the VTB United League season. Our first opponent is Uralmash, who we play on September 28 at 2:00 PM at Basket Hall. Tickets are on sale.