Anton Kvitkovskikh received Melbet’s Player of the Month award before the game. And he was the most noticeable player at the start: he scored our team’s first 3 points, and blocked Levi Randolph in the next episode. This allowed Kirill Temirov to score, who then added more, making it 8:6.
Then it was Ilya Popov‘s turn: 2 points, a steal leading to Kvitkovskikh‘s scoring. Andrey Vorontsevich made it in from beyond the arc, but Kvitkovskikh quickly responded with a mid-range shot, turning it 14:9 at the halfway point of the quarter. Soon, it was time for the first timeout, called by Alexander Sekulić after Ivan Samoylenko‘s corner shot, 17:11.
The pause worked to the visitors’ advantage: Zenit tied the game by the 9th minute, and it was time for Anton Yudin to call a timeout. This helped Lokomotiv take control of the rest of the quarter: Miller scored another 2 points, then Kassius Robertson went on a 7-point rampage to make it 28:20 after the first 10 minutes.
Latecomers gradually arrived, and when popular singer Monelina took to the stage during the first intermission, the arena was almost completely full. Ultimately, the access control system recorded 6,020 spectators—the best performance at our arena in 2 years!
After the game resumed, Temirov made our lead double-digit with a 3-pointer. Andrey Martyuk beautifully closed an alley-oop from Trent Frazier, but Robertson immediately scored with a foul. The player missed the bonus free throw, but the rebound remained ours, and after another foul, Kassius added 2 more points, making it 37:23. Martyuk soon picked up a 3rd foul, and in the next episode, Miller‘s accurate shot forced Sekulić to use his last timeout of the half, after 42:25 in the 17th minute.
In the very next episode, Hunter stole the ball from Frazier, but Miller‘s shot was disallowed, as the referee considered this an offensive foul. Soon, Makar Konovalov cleverly set up Daniil Kosko for an open layup, but Martyuk‘s effort allowed Zenit to claw back 5 points. The end of the quarter was marked by frequent free throw exchanges, but the double-digit lead remained – 46:36 by the big break.
The tempo throttled up at the start of the 3rd quarter: each team scored 6 points in the first 2 minutes. Steals by Miller and Robertson allowed Loko to launch a 4:0 run, forcing Sekulić to call his first timeout of the 2nd half in the 23rd minute, with 56:42 at the scoreboard. Zenit switched to 3-point shooting, and after Vorontsevich, Alexander Shcherbenev, and Frazier made 3-pointers, Yudin was forced to ask for a break, 62:56. Hunter and Kvitkovskikh found opportunities to score from under the basket, but Frazier hit another 3-pointer from behind the arc, 66:59.
Martyuk picked up his 4th offensive foul, and Sergey Karasev first made a long-distance shot (66:62), then received a technical foul, which was also his 4th. Kvitkovskikh hit a 3-pointer, but Vorontsevich did the same. Lokomotiv had the last attack, and a kind of Belgrade déjà vu occurred – Robertson, just like against Mega, scored at the buzzer (this time a 3-pointer), but after video review, the referees disallowed it – 70:66 before the 4th quarter.
The game was at the 4-6 points distance for the next 3 minutes, until Kvitkovskikh (at the cost of a collision that sent him to the bench to recover) won a rebound. Miller scored, Randolph missed, and Miller restored the double-digit gap – 78:68.
Frazier hit one more 3-pointer, and after Hunter‘s shot, the ball bounced around the basket and then went out. Shcherbenev‘s long-range attempt was off target, but Miller was merciless from 5 meters. Zenit’s streak of perimeter misses continued – Frazier, Martyuk – and Temirov showed hoot do it, 83:71, and another Sekulić‘s timeout with 3.45 left.
Hunter executed the next shot perfectly, but soon made a turnover, and now Yudin took a minute break to prevent Zenit’s 4 straight points from growing into something more dangerous.
Miller was fouled and made 1 of 2 free throws; Yemchenko missed, and Robertson scored from afar. It seemed the 14-point margin in 2 minutes was too much to overcome, but Zenit didn’t give up: Randolph and Frazier pulled their team back from a double-digit defeat, 89:80 in Lokomotiv’s favor. What an important victory!
In just 3 days, on November 12, Lokomotiv Kuban will play their next home game against BETCITY PARMA, who recently beat us in the inter-season cup. Come support our team!