By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Lokomotiv Kuban grabbed victory no. 8 in VTB League after defeating Zenit St. Petersburg 68 – 62 on the road in the final game of the Week for the championship.
The trio of Vladimir Ivlev (14 points), Matt Janning (12 points, 6 rebounds) and Andrey Zubkov (13 points, 7 rebounds) paced the winners while Stefan Markovic’s efforts (15 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) weren’t enough for Zenit that is now at a 6-3 record.
There were two completely different pictures for the two halves of the game since Lokomotiv Kuban absolutely controlled the first twenty minutes of the game, leading 27 – 41 at halftime.
It took some time for the hosts to begin their comeback but slowly, yet steadily, they began coming taking down their opponents’ advantage until taking the lead thanks to a 13 – 2 partial score that made it 62 – 60 with four minutes to go.
Yet these were the last time coach Karasev’s players connected to the basket. The guests managed to completely shut them down during the last stretch where their 8 points were more than enough.
After this win, Lokomotiv is third in the standings with a 8-2 record, behind the duo of CSKA Moscow which beat Khimki and Unics Kazan which prevailed over Saratov and share the top with a 9-1 record. Khimki is fourth at 7-2 and Zenit follows at 6-3.