Loko got a strong start: Anton Kvitkovskikh opened the scoring, followed by two consecutive shots sunken by Patrick Miller (one from under the basket, the other from the perimeter). Alen Hadžibegović added a fadeaway turnaround jumper, and Ivan Samoylenko converted an “and-one” play bringing the score to 12:4 just 3 minutes into the game. The Kuban side, however, committed lots of fouls, with Miller picking up two personal (though he remained on the court).
UNICS then found their rhythm; Luka Šamanić and Xavier Rathan-Mayes both scored while being fouled, and Brendan Adams hit a shot from beyond the arc to narrow the gap to a single possession—14:12. Andrei Lopatin then connected from the corner (though it counted as a two-pointer). Trevelin Queen entered the game and marked his return with a successful shot from about 4 meters out. Moments later, Hadžibegović came up with a steal and dished the ball to Kirill Temirov, who made it 20:14.
Gleb Firsov became the main performer in the final stretch of the 1st quarter, converting two 2+1‘s in a row. His intensity even made UNICS center Jalen Reynolds commit a foul against Gleb right after Marcos Knight sank a 3-pointer. Firsov then added a free throw to push the score to 30:18. Although C.J. Bryce managed to claw back 3 points, it was Temirov who capped off the quarter by banking in a daring long-range shot off the backboard just as the buzzer sounded—33:21.
At the start of the 2nd quarter, Queen scored himself and then provided an assist to Temirov for another 2-pointer that initially looked like a 3-pointer. Firsov kept making his mark, and following a fast break finished off by Hadžibegović, the UNICS bench called a timeout—41:27. Immediately after the break, the visitors committed a turnover, which Aleksej Pokuševski capitalized on by scoring. While David McCormack managed to put some points on the board, the visitors continued to struggle with errors; furthermore, Adams and Šamanić each missed two consecutive free throws, allowing Loko’s lead to grow further. After a 3-pointer from Samoylenko, the opposition used their final timeout of the half—49:30.
Everything was going good for Loko in the opponent’s half: Pokuševski pulled off an impressive spin-around to get past Mikhail Belenitsky, and Hadžibegović ensured the highlight-reel play didn’t go to waste. UNICS, however, also found their rhythm on offense—Belenitsky scored from under the rim with an acrobatic finish, while Adams and Rathan-Mayes both connected from afar. Loko’s shooting percentage dipped slightly, but still remained solid: Hadžibegović continued to dominate in the paint, Lopatin scored on a second-chance opportunity, and then, in the final seconds of the quarter, he managed to cap off a fast break with a dunk—62:44—a truly impressive attacking amount for a single half of play!
Adams hit a 3-pointer early in the 2nd half, but it was not much good for UNICS: they were forced to call a timeout before even a full minute had ticked off the clock—the opposing coach was visibly displeased by how easily his team had allowed Hadžibegović and Kvitkovskikh to score. Hadžibegović, meanwhile, was on fire: he recorded a steal, finished an alley-oop from Miller, and then blocked a shot by Reynolds, leading to a 3-pointer for Miller. Lopatin also found his rhythm, scoring 5 points in just 42 seconds, but Hadžibegović had no intention of giving away his main star status: another alley-oop from Miller, followed immediately by a steal and a fast-break dunk, brought the score to 80:51 and prompted yet another timeout from UNICS.
Nothing was going the visitors’ way—not even the small things: they lost a video review challenge and were called for a three-second violation a bit later. Bryce hit a 3-pointer, but it was waved off because he had stepped out of bounds. After a long-range bucket from Queen, the lead stretched beyond 30 points, reaching 83:52. UNICS kept fighting, but by the final break, they had managed to claw back only a small margin, making it 88:60.
At the start of the final quarter, Šamanić converted an “and-one” play. Loko missed twice on the ensuing possession, but McCormack couldn’t finish an alley-oop attempt. Firsov then scored two points, followed by another basket, and shortly after, Knight and Queen demonstrated what a textbook alley-oop should look like—bringing the score to 96:65 and prompting UNICS to call their final timeout of the game.
With all due respect to the opponent, once Miller hit a 3-pointer, the only remaining questions were secondary: who would score Loko’s 100th point (it was Knight), and how many more highlight-reel plays would there be to delight the Krasnodar fans? (Credit here goes to Firsov and Mikhail Vedishchev).
The final buzzer sealed the 3rd-largest margin of victory for Loko in the history of this matchup (following a +33 win in February 2023 and a +30 win in May 2025).
Loko’s next game will again be at home, on Saturday, November 7, against BETCITY PARMA. It’s set for a rather unusual start time for our arena: 4 PM. See you in the stands!