The game debut was kind of helter-skelter: Loko committed a 24-second rule violation on their first attack, and the tower-tall Marcus Bingham responded by getting blocked by B.J. Johnson. Then Vsevolod Ishchenko committed a turnover and was also blocked a bit later. Mike Moore scored the Krasnodar team’s first points only at the end of the 3rd minute. Patrick Miller and Ishchenko each committed a turnover, giving UNICS a 10:4 lead.
Then, Jeremiah Martin scored 2 points, and Ishchenko had a great stretch: he hit a 3-pointer after a clever pass from Miller, then grabbed a rebound, ran the length of the court, and dunked a powerful basket, giving Lokomotiv an 11:10 lead. Mikhail Belenitsky scored 3 points, Vince Hunter tied the game, and the lead changed 3 more times before the end of the quarter, with Ishchenko scoring another dunk, and Ilya Popov set the score at the first break – 19:18 in our favor.
The 2nd quarter began with Ruslan Abdulbasirov blocking Popov, after which the Lokomotiv center recovered quickly, scoring 2 points thus launching a 6:0 run (Anton Kvitkovskikh and Martin also scored during this period). Jalen Reynolds followed up with 2+1, but Martin, Kirill Temirov, and Ishchenko made the gap double-digits at 31:21. After a UNICS timeout, Andrei Lopatin hit a perimeter shot, but Temirov regained the distance with a 2+1. Lokomotiv looked great during this period, primarily due to their dedication, which helped them repeatedly get to the free throw line. Alas, the shooting percentage from that position looked bad – at one point it was 2 out of 7, then 4 out of 10, and only towards the end of the 20th minute did the accuracy creep up to less or more acceptable 50%.
But even so, Loko kept their opponents far. After Hunter‘s successful run, it seemed the 1st half would end in a double-digit lead. But Alexey Shved found an opportunity to score the3-point buzzer, 41:34 in Loko’s favor.
Just as the 3rd quarter began, Shved scored three more points after UNICS grabbed two consecutive rebounds on our paint. Martin converted an isolation play, Hunter blocked Dmitry Kulagin‘s shot, Kvitkovskikh scored from afar, and we were back up by a good margin, 46:37.
Then, Reynolds broke through to our basket and dunked. Loko missed 3 shots on the next attempt, and Reynolds dunked again, clearly finding his stride: in a short stretch, he scored 5 more points, including a long-range shot that gave UNICS its first lead since the first quarter, 48:46. Martin tied the game, Paris Lee hit a 3-pointer, but then our players started also scoring from long range, particularly Moore, whose two shots made it 56:53. However, Ty Brewer tied the game, BJ Johnson got blocked, and Reynolds put UNICS in the lead at 58:56 going into the final break.
Just as the game resumed, Ishchenko‘s steal allowed Miller to tie the game on a fast break. But just a minute later, Kazan was 5 points ahead: Lee converted free throws, Bingham blocked a shot, and Brewer was accurate from the perimeter. Miller‘s free throws narrowed the gap slightly, and then Ishchenko blocked Lopatin‘s shot and scored 2 points in transition, 63:65. A short while later, Ishchenko, again from the 3-point line, cut the gap to a minimum, 68:69. But 2 minutes later, the score was down to “–5” again after Bingham and Reynolds made another baskets. Hunter and Kvitkovskikh executed a clever play that allowed the score to close a bit, and on our next possession, Ishchenko again reduced the margin to a minimum, 73:74.
Reynolds found a way to score two points, Hunter missed on the next episode, and Shved was allowed to score too easily, plus with a foul – 73-79 with 1.16 left to play. Martin quickly made up two points on one, Kulagin missed, and Martin again rushed for an isolation – but this time he ran into a wall of opponents. Shved was quickly fouled, making 1 of his 2 attempts from the line – 76:80 with 26 seconds left on the clock.
Moore was sent out for a long shot – and made it, 79:80! Kulagin was immediately fouled – by Ishchenko, who committed his 5th personal. The UNICS point guard made both free throws, and the Lokomotiv coach called a timeout to set up a play for the remaining 7n seconds.
But no play came—the referees called a 5-second violation on the throw-in. Lokomotiv still had a chance to tie the game: Kulagin passed the ball to nowhere, Hunter grabbed it, and Moore was set up for a 3-point shot—miss!.. UNICS remains undefeated by Lokomotiv this season.
Lokomotiv’s next game is on February 11th, a home game in the intraseason cup against Belgrade’s Mega. Come watch the first international game at the Basket Hall Arena since 2022! The start is at 8:00 PM.