Jeremiah Martin quickly opened the scoring, and it seemed Lokomotiv followed their coach’s advice to get into the game from the start: Mike Moore‘s dunk made it 6:0 before the 2nd minute was up. However, the opponent quickly narrowed the margin to 8:7, and Isaiah Washington answered Martin‘s 3-pointer with two long-range shots, giving Pari NN a 14:12 lead. Washington soon picked up three fouls and had to go to rest, and BJ Johnson, who is celebrating his 30th birthday today, made Loko’s lead promising again with a long-range shot, 23-18. However, the Krasnodar team played poorly at the end of the quarter, conceding 0-8 run in 1.5 minutes, 23-26.
Early in the 2nd quarter, Alexander Khomenko increased Nizhny’s lead by another 2 points, but by the 13th minute, Loko was ahead 33:32 after long-range shots from Anton Kvitkovskikh and Kassuis Robertson, and a shot from Johnson that initially looked like a 3-pointer but turned out to be a 2-pointer. Two more successful defensive plays allowed our team to take a 6-point lead, but Pari NN again closed within one possession, primarily thanks to free throws (both teams fouled a combined 29 times in the 1st half, clearly going to a season-high). Martin, Moore, and Miller had a good run, combining shots with steals, for a 47:40 lead. But once again, the end of the quarter went to the hosts – in the last possession, Washington scored 2+1 after an unnecessary foul by Ivan Samoylenko, 52:51 in favor of Lokomotiv.
Vince Hunter opened the second half with a good shot, but Washington responded with a 3-pointer, then Loko players committed a turnover, and an offensive foul, letting the home team get ahead 56:54. Then Krasnodar got serious on defense, made several fine stops, and after Miller‘s turnaround layup, took a 61:58 lead. But Miller immediately picked up a technical foul, his 4th, and Pari NN soon got the lead back, 62:61. Hunter scored off a clever pass from Martin, then Martin himself hit a shot from about 5 meters out, then the Nizhny Novgorod bench was fouled for talking, Kvitkovskikh hit a free throw, and Khomenko’s 2 points were responded with a 2+1 from Hunter, 69:64.
As they did at the end of the previous quarters, Nizhny launched into another run, but this time it was more or less neutralized: first, the home team’s bench received another foul, then Ilya Popov scored 2+1, and Vsevolod Ishchenko made 1 free throw out of 2 – 74:75 by the 3rd break.
The 4th quarter began with a quick exchange between Hunter Dean and Johnson – both scored twice, after which Kirill Popov dunked, forcing Anton Yudin to call an emergency timeout – 78:81. This didn’t disrupt Pari NN’s momentum: after a minute and a half, it was 78:86. Lokomotiv switched to a smaller lineup and began shooting from beyond the arc: first, Moore scored, then Ishchenko, to make it 84:86. Both teams continued to foul heavily, and Norbert Lukacs, an important player in the Nizhny frontcourt, was the first to be eliminated due to excessive fouls.
Ilya Karpenkov‘s layup was answered by Kvitkovskikh with a 3-pointer, cutting the gap to “–1”. But then Nizhny Novgorod acknowledged how to use their height advantage, scoring 3 times in a row fronunder the basket, and with the score at 87:94, Hunter had to rush back onto the court. A free throw by Ishchenko and a long-range shot by Miller brought Krasnodar back within a shot, 91:94, with 3 minutes remaining.
Washington and Miller exchanged good isolations, Washington tried to score again but missed a shot at the end of the possession, and Moore tied the game from afar, 96:96. Yevgeny Baburin immediately followed with a 3-pointer, forcing a Lokomotiv timeout at “–3” with 1.28 left.
When the game resumed, Miller rushed into the paint, collected 3 opponents, and passed the ball to Hunter for a dunk. Hunter got back on defense just in time to block Karpenkov‘s shot; the Volga team got the rebound, but couldn’t make any good with the remaining 6 seconds of possession. Miller ran under the basket again, and this time scored himself, putting Loko ahead 100:99 and forcing the Nizhny coach to take a minute-long break.
Hunter fouled on Khomenko and went to rest with 5 personal fouls. The Pari NN point guard made both free throws, restoring the lead to his team. Baburin then fouled Miller (and also went down with too many fouls), but our point guard missed both attempts from the line!
Johnson fouls on Ilya Platonov, who “returns the favor” by also missing two from the line. In the next episode Ishchenko receives the ball at the arc and decides to shoot. The ball falls off the backboard right into the basket, 103:101! Sergey Kozin immediately calls a timeout, but we never find out what combination the Pari NN coach had planned for his team – Washington violates the 5-second rule on the throw-in. Johnson breaks the pressure, runs with the ball to the corner of the court, and is finally fouled. The birthday boy makes both shots from the line – it’s a victory!
Lokomotiv-Kuban snapped a 3-game losing streak and is returning to Krasnodar. On Thursday, December 25, the Basket Hall will host a Winline Basket Cup пфьу against CSKA. See you in the stands!