The teams last met on March 8 in Krasnoyarsk. Then, Loko took the lead in the 54th second and never gave it back, with the final buzzer freezing the score at 91:80. Alen Hadzibegovic scored 19 points; Vsevolod Ishchenko set a VTB United League rebound record for backcourt players at 15, which he added to his 12 points; Patrick Miller finished the game with 15 points and 12 assists. Yenisei also had a double-double, with Danilo Tasić‘s 15 points and 14 rebounds. Yegor Ryzhov was the Siberian team’s most valuable player that evening: 20 points, 6 rebounds, no fouls, and an efficiency rating of 26. This season, the 22-year-old center is averaging 12 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 0.4 blocks—second on his team in each of these stats.
On March 14, Yenisei lost at home to Zenit by just 3 points, 71:74. However, the score doesn’t quite reflect the nature of the game, as the home team was down 10 with just 1,5 minutes left, and only made a late surge that ran out of time to make a difference. Regardless, Krasnoyarsk point guard Matt Coleman had a great night – 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Coleman has logged the most minutes on the court for his team (almost 29 minutes), averaging 11 points, 1.2 steals, and more assists (5.1) and fouls (3.3) than any other teammate.
Yenisey’s next game, a 94-73 victory in Samara on March 17, was highlighted by 17 points and 5 three-pointers from Siberian captain Dmitry Sonko. He leads his team in three-point shooting with 40.1% (2 out of 5.1 attempts per game), and in free throws, making 86.8% (1.5 out of 1.7). This helps the Krasnoyarsk graduate average 10.7 points, along with 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists.
On March 22, Yenisei lost 73:87 to UNICS on the road. It was just “–3” for them after 29 minutes, but they scored only 12 points in the 4th quarter. However, Dominic Artis deserves a mention for his 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. The shooting guard is putting up a respectable season-high stat line of 11.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.8 steals (tied for 2nd-4th place in the league with Melo Trimble and Xavier Moon). Artis‘ plus/minus (exactly zero) is the best on the team among those who have played more than one game.
After that, on March 28, Yenisei played perhaps their best game this spring, rolling over BETCITY PARMA at home (97:78). The game was definitely Yegor Vanin‘s best of the season (11 points, 7 rebounds, 5 of which were offensive, and a 19 efficiency rating). This allowed the 7’2″ center to improve his season averages, which currently stand at 3.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 0.4 blocks.
On April 1st, the Siberian team was cold showered–a 70:103 defeat to CSKA in Moscow. Though, till the 3rd quarter, the game was quite even, with Yenisei leading 48:44 at one moment, but they only scored 22 points in the remaining 15 minutes. A bright spot was the performance of Mikhail Vedishchev, on loan from Lokomotiv, who scored 14 points and made 2 assists. Krasnoyarsk coach Jovica Arsić is giving the 22-year-old point guard an average of 13.5 minutes per game, during which Mikhail scores 4.5 points on 31.4% of three-pointers and makes 2.3 assists.
Then, on April 5, Yenisei hosted BETCITY PARMA once again. For the most part of the game, it looked like Krasnoyarsk would win again, but by the 34th minute, the Perm team had equalized the score and prevailed in a tense clutch, 78:73. Even 17 points from Danilo Tasić, who is playing at the level of the league’s top stars this season, couldn’t help: 15.3 points on 39.8% shooting from three-point range, 6.4 rebounds (4th in the league), and an efficiency rating of 20.0 (tied with Marcus Bingham, 7th-8th in the tournament). This defeat seriously damaged the Krasnoyarsk team’s chances of rising above 8th place in the regular season.
However, Avtodor soon exterminated these chances, defeating Yenisey 75:72 on April 11 at home, thanks to a 5:0 run in the final 2 minutes. In this match, Lokomotiv Academy graduate Sergei Dolinin made the best performance of his senior career – 24 efficiency points, consisting of 7 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, and 3 blocks. On average, the power forward is third on the team not only in rebounds (4.9) but also in three-point percentage (37.8%).
On April 15, Yenisei took some kind of revenge, ending another team, MBA-MAI, chances to finish the regular-season in a better position, defeating them 85:80 in Krasnoyarsk. In 31 minutes on the court, Nikita Yevdokimov set a personal VTB United League scoring record of 11 points (9 of which came from beyond the arc).
Having switched to preparation mode for the quarterfinal against CSKA, Yenisei gave UNICS a good fight at home on April 18th. The hosts trailed by one point with a minute left, but Alexey Shved‘s difficult three-pointer proved decisive, 86:92. Daniil Kasatkin, who spent the first half of the season in a French prison on charges of hacking attacks, scored 10 points for the Krasnoyarsk team that evening. After his release, he quickly regained decent form, averaging 5.1 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 0.4 steals in 21 minutes of ice time in 16 games for Yenisei.
The game starts at 8:00 PM, and the arena doors open at 6:30 PM. See you at the Basket Hall!