Lokomotiv scored points on their first two attacks (Royce Hamm and Anton Kvitkovskikh marked themselves on the scoreboard), but then the home team’s shooting percentage dropped. Meanwhile, Niozhny continued to score consistently and took a 13:6 lead. Anton Yudin began playing small-ball, and the defense improved – the red-greens scored 9 points in a row (5 of which came from Patrick Miller) and grabbed the lead. Another run at the end of the quarter allowed Loko to end the quarter leading 23:17.
Early in the 2nd quarter, Lokomotiv struggled to score, and by the 14th minute, Nizhny had quite closed the gap, 23:22. Finally, Kassius Robertson broke the drought with a long-range shot. But the game remained low-scoring. At one moment, Shane Gatling turned hot, scoring two consecutive 3-pointers (and tying the score with his second, 28:28). Makar Konovalov also hit a 3, but Pari NN soon took the lead anyways, 31:34. Still, the teams went to the locker rooms tied, as Konovalov scored 2+1.
Thanks to a 3-pointer by Kvitkovskikh and two dunks by Vince Hunter, Loko built a two-possession lead. More importantly, Gatling quickly received his third and fourth fouls – the opposing coaches were forced to bench the point guard, who had already scored 16 points, to save him for the end. Kirill Temirov was good on defense these minutes, and Ilya Popov stepped up very well, grabbing one offensive rebound after another. After a long-range shot by Miller and free throws by Konovalov, the margin became double-digit, 58:48. Robertson‘s 3-pointer increased the lead bit more by the final 10 minutes – 65:54.
At the very start of the 4th quarter, Lokomotiv made two consecutive steals (Ivan Samoylenko and Robertson did it), and the gap continued to widen. Miller was the main scorer these minutes, Danil Sheyanov also scored greatly. Then it was Robertson‘s turn: he scored twice in a row, making the score 78:60.
The Krasnodar team clearly found a strong attacking momentum in these minutes: quick ball movement, rebounds in the opponent’s post. This was exactly the gift the Lokomotiv fan section was hoping for their anniversary.
Gatling tried to keep the game exciting, scoring 25 points by the 38th minute. But 86:72 is extremely rare to outplay in such a short time. Yudin gave Pavel Ryabkov someplaying time, and the youngster soon scored his first points for the main team. Kvitkovskikh‘s dunk after a steal capped the game.
Lokomotiv now has three away games to play: on October 12th against MBA-MAI, on the 15th against PARMA (it will be the Winline in-season Cup game), and on the 19th against UNICS. The next game in Krasnodar is scheduled on October 25th, when Samara will arrive.