Krasnodar basketball players reached the highest position of the season

While the handball championships were on pause, the Lokomotiv-Kuban basketball players won the MBA for the second time, and the Dynamo volleyball players, following the victory over the champions, dealt with the winners of the silver medals of the last season.

Without defeat, but with victory

Lokomotiv-Kuban played another match with the capital’s MBA – the fourth of the season. In the previous round of the VTB United League, Krasnodar played with Muscovites on February 14 in the capital and managed to win big – 89 : 60. But they did not completely get even after two defeats at the first stage. Yes, we were beaten by the difference in points in personal meetings, but morally, this was, of course, not enough. Another victory was needed.

Krasnodar were unconditional favorites in the home game. In the top six, Muscovites, who are debutants of the VTB United League, are depressed. They did not have a single victory. Lokomotiv, on the contrary, changed at the second stage. The team was strengthened by legionnaires and played better.

On the other hand, the games were separated by more than a two-week pause. It included the All-Star Game plus friendly matches for the Russian national team. The Russians, with four Loko players, consisting of Andrey Martyuk, Vladislav Yemchenko, Anton Kvitkovsky and Alexander Shcherbenev, defeated the Serbian clubs Mega and FMP. The head coach of the Krasnodar team Alexander Sekulich, who manages the Slovenian national team, was also absent for an international break. The Balkan team secured access to the World Cup in advance and therefore could afford to lose in the final qualifying matches to Israel and Estonia.

There was no such easy game as in February in Moscow. The head coach of the MBA, Vasily Karasev, was eager to rehabilitate himself for the fiasco in the home match, especially since one of the leaders of Muscovites returned to action after injuries: Makar Konovalov and Artem Lopatin.

The principles and sharpness of relations between the teams were felt in the starting quarter, when even a turmoil ensued between the players. Brawls are rare in basketball. One of Loko’s leaders, Martyuk, who was struggling for rebounds and fell to the parquet, was kicked by Sergei Klyuev, and the blow went to the head. Teams in full strength took part in the showdown. The referees debated for a good ten minutes, after which Martyuk and Yemchenko were sent off until the end of the match by Loko, and Klyuev by the guests. However, after the disciplinary sanctions, the players cooled down and the situation in this respect did not escalate anymore.

As for basketball, in fact, the guests took the lead in the debut of the match – 5: 0. But soon Lokomotiv took the lead after a long-range throw by Alexander Shcherbenev – 8: 7. The teams regularly exchanged leadership, but each time it was symbolic – only in a couple of points. More in the starting quarter were the guests, but after the average hit by Zakhar Vedischev, the period was left for Krasnodar – 19:18.

The second quarter continued the scenario of the first. The teams tirelessly exchanged leadership. Krasnodar scored simple goals more often, running into counterattacks – Chris Horton and Devon Akun-Purcell hung on the ring with pleasure.

The score was 33 : 28 after a half-hook from Loko’s latest newcomer, American Okaro White. This is the most tangible advantage of Krasnodar until that time. At the end of the period, Konovalov and Vedishchev exchanged long-range hits. The result of the first half is 40:36 in favor of the hosts.

For three and a half minutes, the opponents could not distinguish themselves after a long break, until Anton Kvitkovskikh from Krasnodar did it. The result was the most ineffective quarter. But Loko’s leader Burford stepped in, limiting himself to just two points in the first half. After his two long-range hits in a row, the score was 48:39. Without stopping there, he also made Loko’s advantage two-digit – 50:39.

In the debut of the final period with a short interval, Kvitkovsky hit from afar, then scored from above. The maximum advantage of Krasnodar in the course of the match was 62 : 48. It seemed that the song of the guests was sung.

After that, Krasnodar relaxed. And the gap was steadily shrinking: 62:54 after being hit by Valiev, 63:59 by Lopatin, 65:62 by Konovalov. Plus, the guests for a long time immaculately performed free throws – twelve out of twelve.

However, Vedishchev’s three-point response arrived in time in a difficult situation – 68: 62. And Burford was accurate from an average distance. Summed up the Muscovites penalty: in the end they missed three attempts.

In the last seconds, Krasnodar got out of the pressure, and Horton scored from above, putting a spectacular point – 73:65 (19:18, 21:18, 17:12, 16:17).

As usual, Lokomotiv’s top scorer was Burford with seventeen points, while Zakhar Vedischev made it to the Tour’s symbolic team: he has thirteen points, five assists and three rebounds.

– Respect for the IBA for the serious struggle they have imposed on us. And congratulations to our guys who were able to find a way to win,” said Alexander Sekulich, head coach of Lokomotiv-Kuban, after the match. – After a long pause it is always difficult to catch the rhythm of the game. And I’m happy that we succeeded. In the second half of the match, we broke away by a double-digit difference in the score, after which there was some kind of relaxation. Thanks to the fans for pushing us forward. And some of our players should reconsider this match and think about it.

– Embarrassing defeat. In general, the game for our team can still be recorded as an asset, – said the MBA mentor Vasily Karasev, finding a positive. – Thanks to the fact that Makar Konovalov returned to duty, we played episodes exactly what we wanted. In positional play, we have no advantage over any of the top six teams. The return of Makar gave us what we need to achieve the result – speed. Everything has become much more fun and interesting. We still had a chance to catch on in the end, but a few childhood losses completely removed the intrigue. And Lokomotiv-Kuban, having such players as Jaylen Burford, decided the ending in their favor.

Loko moved up to fourth place in the standings. Krasnodar has never climbed so high this season before. In general, this is a fairly traditional state of affairs. The strongest four of the club in recent years – CSKA, UNICS, Zenit and Loko – has formed again. True, so far Krasnodar has spent more per game than Nizhny Novgorod, which can return to fourth position.

“Dynamo” – a thunderstorm of last year’s authorities

Volleyball players of Krasnodar “Dynamo” continue to fight for getting into the playoffs. In the last round, the Blue and White managed to defeat the current champions from Lokomotiv Kaliningrad. The victory is also valuable because this opponent is on the move, taking second place in the current Super League draw.

In the next match, the Dynamo team had to play against the vice-champions of the country from Uralochka-NTMK. The titled team is not going through the best season, weaving outside the top ten. However, this did not stop them from upsetting them in Krasnodar with a score of 3:0 in the first round. There was an extremely hard-fought match in which the guests won all the endings by two points. They were then led by the legendary coach Nikolai Karpol. Now the master, for health reasons, could not attend the match in Nizhny Tagil.

And the team from Krasnodar dealt with their rivals without any obvious problems – 3:0 (25:15, 25:17, 25:15). In the first game, with a score of 6 : 6, the guests stopped the opponents’ attacks with a block three times in a row and irrevocably took the lead. Minor problems arose in the middle of the second game, when Uralochka managed to win back five points, making the score 9:9. But then Dynamo, attacking in various ways and successfully defending, confidently brought the matter to victory.

The hosts were in the lead at the start of the third installment – 3: 0. This remained a local success. From a score of 14:13, Dynamo made a decisive breakthrough in their favor.

Valeria Shevchuk and Maria Bogovskaya scored eleven points each, Yulia Podskalnaya and Anastasia Zhukova scored ten points each.

– A very important victory for us. The task was to deal with the excitement in the first place. The last matches on the road were difficult, plus the road, the principal rival, had no right to lose points – it was all crushing. Therefore, there was some fear, but they coped with everything, the girls – well done! – said the head coach of Dynamo Pavel Zabuslaev.

Krasnoyarsk “Yenisei” won in Nizhny Novgorod, which Krasnodar recently failed, and retained eighth place. The Siberian team is ahead of Dynamo with equal wins by one point.

Ahead of the southerners is an even more formidable challenge: on March 12, Dynamo Moscow, the leader of the Super League, will come to Krasnodar.