At the start of the game, Levi Randolph scored 5 points in a row, then it was our turn to score: Anton Kvitkovskikh hit a 3-pointer, Patrick Miller made a mid-range shot in. But since then, our attack started struggling, and by the 7th minute, the score was 5:16. After a timeout, Mike Moore stepped up: he scored from about 5 meters, added three free throws a bit later, but he also got three fouls very quickly. A little later, Vsevolod Ishchenko made a steal and scored while surrounded by three guards. Jeremiah Martin added 2 more points, but just before the buzzer, Trent Frazier hit a 3-pointer – 14:28. The rebounding gap was even more shocking: 2-11 in Zenit’s favor.
The 2nd quarter began with another 5-point run by the home team. After that, Ishchenko made a great pass to find an open Kirill Temirov in the paint, but Frazier immediately hit a 3-pointer and forced Anton Yudin to exhaust the first-half timeout limit with 16:36at the scoreboard. The opponents remained within this range for the next few minutes (Kvitkovskikh scored well, however), and after a dunk by Vince Hunter, Alexander Sekulić took a minute-long break. Miller scored from afar, but Lokomotiv’s defense couldn’t stop the opponent’s front line, and at one point the gap reached 26 points, 28:54. A fast break by Hunter, as well as a 3-pointer by B.J. Johnson, brightened the situation a bit, making it 34:56 at the big break.
The 2nd half opened with a 2-pointer by Miller and a 3-pointer by Johnson, who soon added a perimeter shot the score, Vladislav Yemchenko responded with a similar one, but Ishchenko also scored a three, making it 46:66. Our defense improved somewhat, as did the rebounding – Hunter grabbed one in offence and got a relatively easy 2 points. However, after two unsuccessful Lokomotiv attacks, the score returned to the same “–22” as at the start of the period. In the final minute of the quarter, Kvitkovskikh hammered a poster over Andrei Martyuk, but Randolph immediately made a long-range shot, and the teams went into the final intermission with a score of 52:75.
The final quarter began with a 3-pointer by Sergei Karasev, bringing the margin back to “–26”. Hunter blocked Martyuk‘s shot and finished the counterattack with a tough layup. Johnson intercepted a pass from Frazier… but it didn’t result in any points. Moreover, after several unprepared attacks, the gap grew to “–30” in the 35th minute. Ishchenko was a bright spot during these hard times: he drew fouls, made steals, and assisted Moore on a 3-pointer—which allowed us to save some face, if that’s the right word after losing by “–29”. We also managed to keep Zenit from scoring 100 points, but the quest of winning a single quarter remained undone.
Next up, we’re off to Nizhny Novgorod, where Lokomotiv will play Pari NN on Sunday, December 21st. We believe in the team!