By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Initially it looked like we would experience scenarios with a predictable outcome during this Week in VTB League, yet once specific team decided to offer us a serious “plot twist”.
We are talking about Krasny Oktyabr (7-11) that was responsible for a major upset on the road against VEF (4-14), in Riga. Despite falling behind with 25 points, 4 minutes into the second half, the team from Volgograd (with club owner Dmitry Gerasimenko in the roster) completely outplayed its opponents, especially in the fourth quarter, finishing a huge comeback and taking a stunning victory.
As for the other games we didn’t see any surprises. One strong final quarter was enough for Lokomotiv Kuban (12-5) to impose its strength on Avtodor Saratov (9-7). Coach Bartzokas’ players once again pulled out their machine guns, firing from all sides of the perimeter, finishing the game with 17/36 from behind the arc. A win which brings the, now fifth, Loko much closer to the top four of the league.
Unics Kazan (16-2) is still hot at the trail of the first place, making short work of Astana (6-12) right from the start of the match, and staying comfy until the end, while the Bisons (7-13) from Finland were too efficient for Tallinn’s (4-13) defense. Nizhny Novgorod (10-8) did its job against last in the standings Vita (0-19) and rose to the 8th place, tied with Nymburk.
VTB League 2015/2016 – February the 7th:
Lokomotiv Kuban (Ryan Broekhoff 14 p. 10 r. 4 s.) – Avtodor Saratov: 91 – 77
Bisons Loimaa (Martin Zeno 25 p. 5 a.) – Kalev Tallinn: 98 – 86
Nizhny Novgorod (Vladimir Ivlev 23 p. 10 r.) – Vita Tbilisi: 97 – 65
Unics Kazan (Anton Ponkrashov 15 p. 10 a.) – Astana: 100 – 73
VEF Riga – Krasny Oktyabr (Jerry Jefferson 21 p. 9 r.): 92 – 94
The basket with which Krasny won the game: