In the opening seconds, Anton Kvitkovskikh made a strong play against Luigi Suigo to open the scoring, then added a 3-pointer to make it 5:2 for Lokomotiv. A rapid exchange of attacks went on, in which Mega was flawless, and by the 5th minute they were leading 18:11 with 100% shooting, both from the field and the free throw line.
After a timeout, urgently called by Anton Yudin, the Krasnodar team began to successfully stop at least some of their opponents’ attacks, but Mega still surpassed the 30-point mark by the 7th minute. Several difficult shots by Patrick Miller galvanized our team a bit. Danil Sheyanov and Vsevolod Ishchenko scored well, and Kirill Yelatontsev finally returned to the court, although he hasn’t yet scored. At the buzzer, Kvitkovskikh came close to scoring from his own half of the court, but missed, and Loko went into the first break at “–13” and with a season-high number of points conceded in 10 minutes – 24:37.
It seemed like Mega would easily surpass 50 points in the 1st half with this kind of play, but Lokomotiv got there first. Krasnodar’s defensive changes began to pay off right from the start of the 2nd quarter. No one scored for a minute and a half, then Vince Hunter made 2 free throws, then Kvitkovskikh interferred Savo Drezgić‘s dribble, Miller picked up the ball and ran to the defenseless hoop – Mega called a timeout.
But the pause didn’t stop Loko’s run: Hunter successfully defended against Suigo, Miller scored 2+1, then Hunter blocked a shot by Bogoljub Marković, and a few seconds later, Miller won an offensive rebound and scored from under the hoop. Kassius Robertson made a steal to bring the gap to “–2”. Only then did Mega finally score their first points of the quarter, interrupting Lokomotiv’s 11:0 run. But soon after, Temirov put our team ahead – first finishing a counterattack involving Robertson and Hunter, then performing a great long shot, 40:39.
Suigo returned the lead to Mega, Yelatontsev took it back, but Marković scored immediately after. Robertson from the perimeter and Miller from the free throw line made the margin bigger – 47:43. But Asim Đulović‘s efforts, the game came down to one possession by the end of the quarter, 51:49 in our favor. Nevertheless, to allow 37 points in the first 10 minutes and only 12 in the second – what a transformation!
After 4 straight points by Kvitkovskikh at the start of the 3rd period, Mega coach Vule Avdalović urgently called a timeout. But Hunter immediately slammed a poster over Suigo, who was a good half-foot taller. Robertson soon followed with his dunk. Suigo scored 2 points, but then the Belgrade team left Ishchenko uncovered under their basket, 65:57. Drezgić hit 3-pointers on 2 consecutive attacks, and Lazar Gačić tied the game with free throws. However, the end of the quarter was ours: Miller and Robertson made it 71-65.
At the start of the 4th quarter, Hunter again showed his dominance in the paint, scoring 2 points, but Đulović and Marković quickly eliminated most of it – 73:71. Two successful defensive moments allowed us to run away by 6 points: Hunter performed a great assist to Kvitkovskikh, then Miller hit it from 5 meters out. Drezgić hit a 3-pointer, but so did Ivan Samoylenko. Then, Mega scored 3 free throws, and Miller responded with a long shot, making it 83:77 with 3 minutes left in the quarter.
And then inspiration struck Drezgić again: 2 points, 3, 3 more – and the score was tied at 85:85. Samoylenko found enough space to make an open long-range shot – but missed. Miller forced Drezgić to make a mistake on the dribble, after which Hunter finished off Lokomotiv’s attack like a quality point guard—with a reverse layup. Drezgić tied it from the free throw line, 87:87, with 27 seconds left. Đulović prevented Hunter from scoring, but Lokomotiv prevented Drezgić from scoring either—overtime!
To the audible chants of the Lokomotiv fans (most of whom were employees of the Russian Railways branch in Belgrade, but there were others as well), it was as if we were back in the 1st quarter, with its rapid exchange of scoring. Urban Kroflič scored first, from beyond the arc. Kvitkovskikh made a put-back after Miller‘s missed three, but Suigo immediately sent his long shot home. Robertson made it 92:93 with a 3-pointer. Đulović scored 2+1. Miller responded by putting 2 free throws in, and then the opponent finally started missing, so Ishchenko tied it on a fast transition, 96:96.
After another Mega miss, Miller won the rebound and decided to score himself, but this gave the opponent the opportunity to break away with a 3-on-1 counterattack. As a result, not only Temirov was eliminated with his 5th foul, but Đulović also got his another 2+1. Kvitkovskikh quickly cut the deficit to 98:99 with a layup, and just over a minute to play.
Drezgić began a long possession, found a foul, scored both free throws—a Lokomotiv timeout. What play our coach had in mind, stayed unclear, because Miller was immediately fouled and scored both free throws, 100:101. Drezgić was fouled, and missed both attempts—what a chance!
However, Lokomotiv’s decisive attack was haphazard. All they managed to achieve was a throw-in with only 0.5 seconds left for possession. Robertson received the ball and scored!.. But after a long, long video review referees said no, he didn’t: a split second was not enough for the ball to leave our player’s hand before the possession counter flashed zero.
With 2 seconds remaining, we fouled Drezgić , who scored 2 more points, and Robertson even managed to make a half-court buzzer shot–but going to a 2nd overtime wasn’t in the cards today, 100:103.
Now Lokomotiv Kuban returns to Krasnodar, where they will play 3 consecutive home games: November 9th against Zenit, November 12th against PARMA, and November 15th against MBA-MAI. See you at the Basket Hall!