By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Lokomotiv Kuban gave up a 24-point lead and then came back from nine points down in the fourth period, to beat Cedevita 85 – 81 in Zagreb and extend its EuroCup winning streak to 4-0.
It was a rollercoaster of a game for both teams. Loko had a powerful entrance and was up 46 – 22 in the mid of the second period but Cedevita bounced back strong after the break to take 76 – 67 with three minutes remaining.
Then Mateusz Ponitka fired consecutive triples and Jamel McLean took over to put Loko up in the score, 78 – 84, 2:34 before the final buzzer. Pablo Aguilar made it a one-possession game with 23 seconds left but one free throw by Dmitry Khvostov kept Loko safe.
McLean finished with 14 points (10/11 free throws) and Ponitka had 10 but the star for Loko was Dmitry Kulagin who scored 25 points.
Josh Magette scored 16 points and dished out six assists for Cedevita. Vitor Benite added 15 points and Elgin Cook 14 points, eight rebounds and four dimes.
In the other Group B games, Peyton Siva paced Alba Belin towards a victory over Arka Gdynia while Limoges beat Tofas.
Group B Standings (via Proballers.com):
Position | Team | % Victory | GP | GW | GL | PTS + | PTS – | GA |
1 | Lokomotiv Kuban | 100 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 257 | 209 | 1.2296 |
2 | Alba Berlin | 75 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 364 | 327 | 1.1131 |
3 | Cedevita Zagreb | 66.67 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 221 | 216 | 1.0231 |
4 | Limoges | 50 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 328 | 333 | 0.9849 |
5 | Tofas | 25 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 340 | 370 | 0.9189 |
6 | Asseco Arka Gdynia | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 281 | 336 | 0.8363 |
Photo: EuroCup