By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
History has been made in Krasnodar and this is bad news for Barcelona. Lokomotiv Kuban prevailed in the crucial Game 5 (81-67), dominated in the last quarter and got the ticket to the Euroleague Final Four for the first time ever.
Chris Singleton with 16 points and 11 rebounds, Malcolm Delaney (17 p., 6 as.) and Ryan Broekhoff (14 p., 3/6 3p.) were the leaders in a great team effort that gave to Lokomotiv Kuban the most important win in its history.
The hosts had the lead for most of the first half, finishing the first quarter with 26-21 and getting to the locker room at half time with an 11 points advantage (50-39).
However, Barcelona managed to turn things around in the third quarter during which they had a partial 23-8 score as the Catalans entered the last quarter leading by four (62-58). The key for this change of pace was Barcelona’s zone defense with Lokomotiv shooting just 3 out of 14 field goals.
Still, the hosts didn’t lose their focus and things changed in the last period. With Singleton scoring 11 straight points in the paint and Lokomotiv having a 15-2 run, the score was 73-64 with just five minutes left and Barcelona was trailing by nine points. It was past the point of no return for the Spanish team after that. Lokomotiv ended the game with a partial 23-5 score in the last 10 minutes. Stratos Perperoglou with 13 points and Juan Carlos Navarro with 12 were the top scorers of the losing side.