By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Dominating from start to finish, Lokomotiv Kuban did not hold back on the way to the 109-57 victory versus Astana in VTB United League Regular Season action at Basket-Hall Krasnodar Wednesday.
Serbian guard, Ivan Paunic, recorded 18 points, a personal best in his second season as a member of the Russian club. Former Baylor standout and veteran of 46 NBA games between the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks, Johnathan Motley chipped in 14 more points. Youngsters Vladislav Yemchenko and Zakhar Vedishchev added 12 points each.
The fourth win in a row through March broke the tie with Parma-PariBet and sent the team based in Krasnodar to 9-6. CSKA leads VTB behind a 15-3 W-L tally, while UNICS at 14-4, Zenit at 13-4, and Avtodor at 10-6 also rank higher as well.
On the receiving end of the first 13 points of the contest, the Kazakh club did not recover, instead saw the distance go over 20 points in the first quarter, over 30 in the second, and over 50 in the third. At the end of the day, the sixth straight loss shaped an overall VTB record of 3-13. Maxim Marchuk registered a team-high 14 points in southern Russia.
Loko was among the teams eliminated from the 2021-22 editions of Euroleague Basketball tournaments following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war. It was part of the 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season Group A. CSKA, UNICS, and Zenit were the Russian outlets thrown out of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Photo Credit: EuroLeagueBasketball.net