Lokomotiv-Kuban fights on equal terms with CSKA

Basketball players of Lokomotiv-Kuban were able to start the semi-final series solidly against the formidable CSKA. Both handball teams from Krasnodar scored important victories at the end of the regular season. Rugby players of “Kuban” were able to climb to third place in the championship of Russia. Read more about the main events of the sports week in the review of “MK in the Kuban”.

It was no coincidence

Lokomotiv-Kuban started in the VTB United League semi-final series against CSKA. Both teams with a clean sheet went through the previous round. The army team, as the winners of the regular stage, got a weaker opponent – Avtodor Saratov. Loko, on the other hand, formed with Nizhny Novgorod, in theory, the most intense pair: those in fifth place met with the one who was in fourth. Despite the lower seeding and four defeats from the Volga players in the regular season, Krasnodar won all three matches.

In the semifinals, the streak is extended – to advance, you need to win four times. Of course, CSKA is considered a big favorite. And already four times in the season he beat Loko – each time quite easily. At the same time, the strength of the Krasnodar team is difficult to fully assess, because the team was additionally staffed during the season. High-quality legionnaires are getting better settled in the team.

The first match was interesting, and Loko stopped a step away from the sensation. On Saturday evening, Megasport was packed to capacity: more than eleven thousand spectators attended the game. On the day of the match, the army club celebrated its centenary. Entourage and struggle on the court cost each other.

The defeat came out of the category of insulting. The alignment was in favor of Krasnodar. CSKA allowed unusually many losses, often lost rebounds on their backboard, the guests had good long-range shots. A magnificent match was played by the captain of Krasnodar Dmitry Uzinsky. Four of his five attempts from behind the arc went on target.

In the middle of the final quarter, Loko was leading by ten points – 71 : 61. But the army team eliminated him in an instant. Casper Ware earned free throws three times in the course of the meeting on long-range shots – the rarest case. The American only managed to score eighteen points in the final quarter. An intense struggle ensued. Loko leader Jaylen Burford scored twice in a row from a distance. In the end, Ware scored in the hardest pass with a foul, but gave his opponent a chance in the form of a blurry free kick. Loko’s attack didn’t work at all, Burford’s throw was an emergency one, with almost no preparation. The hosts added two more successful free throws and won – 87:84 (21:24, 19:22, 18:19, 29:19).

At Loko, Devon Akun-Purcell scored twenty points, Uzinsky – sixteen. As part of CSKA, Ware recorded 27 points in his asset, Serbian Nikola Milutinov another 24.

– It is difficult to evaluate such a game. It turned out great,” said Alexander Sekulich, head coach of Lokomotiv-Kuban. We made key mistakes when we shouldn’t have. As I said before the series, it cannot be lost in the first match. I think we have found a way to deal with CSKA and will try to use it in the next meeting.

The second match was anxiously awaited. What happened the day before – a bad day for CSKA or the real state of affairs? Loko proved that the army team’s problems in the opening game were not accidental.

The beginning was unpleasant, when the Muscovites managed to break away in the score – 13: 7, but the “red-greens” extinguished the opponent’s breakthrough. Further southerners were in the lead more often. In the third period, their gap even reached eleven points.

Before the final quarter the situation was absolutely equal – 62 : 62. In the last period, there were no sharp fluctuations in the score. The ending seemed to be more comfortable for CSKA than two days earlier. Milutinov added the ball to the ring after a shot by Ware – the hosts took the lead with a score of 79: 77. Krasnodar made several misses in one attack, but Akun-Purcell was able to equalize in the end.

Then Okaro White hit from a distance a minute and a half before the end, putting Loko ahead – 84: 81. But these were the last points of the guests in the match. CSKA also had problems: the main center Milutinov was injured due to a bad landing.

As a result, five seconds before the final siren, with the score 83:84, the army team was in a good situation. They had the ball in the half of Krasnodar, they had a time-out at their disposal. By basketball standards, time is enough. The denouement was not as ticklish as one might expect. The army team was fussing with the ball, and Jaylen Burford scratched it out for himself. Loko’s victory – 84:83 (22:23, 20:14, 20:25, 22:21).

Okaro White and Aleksey Shved became the most productive in each of the teams – nineteen points each. As part of Lokomotiv, Devon Akun-Purcell scored eighteen more, ten – Zakhar Vedischev. CSKA also have fourteen points from Nikola Milutinov and Kasper Weir.

“It was a defeat that we did not want to allow. Unfortunately, it happened,” said CSKA head coach Emil Raikovich. – But the playoff series are played up to four wins, and the score is now only 1: 1.

“After the previous game we were upset, but now we are happy, because we beat CSKA on its court,” Loko coach Alexander Sekulich exulted. We were a little unlucky the day before yesterday, but we were lucky today. In general, it turned out to be a cool game that the fans should like. It’s great that we were able to succeed.

The series is just getting started. The next two matches will be held in Krasnodar on April 20 and 22.

Let’s also note the victory of Loko-2 in the VTB Youth League. Boris Bogdanov’s team won the home Final Four with a clear advantage. In both matches Krasnodar smashed their rivals. In the semifinals – Khimki-2 (80:50), in the decisive match – MBA-2 (70:46). Krasnodar center Kirill Elatontsev became the most valuable player of the tournament.

Optimistic Finish

There were victories in two handball matches of the week. SKIF held the final match in the regular stage. And the confidence with which the victory was obtained was a pleasant surprise. In the first round, Krasnodar failed to defeat SGAU-Saratov at home, drawing.

The guest meeting was excellent. Everything was predetermined in the debut of the fight. After twelve starting minutes Krasnodar took the lead – 9 : 0. It was not difficult to bring the matter to victory. The advantage was not increased, but almost not lost – 33 : 25.

At SKIF, Ruslan Dashko distinguished himself nine times, Tran Xuan Viet scored six times, and Savely Shalabanov five times. Krasnodar goalkeeper Vadim Kondratenko was able to beat off 44 percent of shots on his own goal – eleven out of twenty-five.

We played well in both halves. Everything worked out for us today, the game didn’t go well for Saratov,” said Dmitry Karlov, head coach of SKIF. — Our goalkeeper Vadik Kondratenko did a good job of analyzing how opponents shoot. In terms of the tournament, it was important for us not to drop to eighth place, so as not to get into the playoffs at the Chekhov Bears.

SKIF finished seventh in the regular season with eighteen points in twenty matches. In its final match, Dynamo Astrakhan was able to bypass Krasnodar.

Thus, SKIF will play in the quarterfinals against the Stavropol “Victor”, which took second place. The first match will take place on May 6 in Krasnodar, the return match will take place on May 10 at the opponent’s site.

Women’s “Kuban” held the most important match in the fight for fifth place with a direct rival – Zvenigorod “Zvezda”. The game took place in the suburbs. But statistically, this factor only made life easier for Krasnodar residents. All three previous matches of the season between these teams have invariably ended in victory for the guests.

The game was not easy. The hostess took the initiative. They won the first half, albeit with a minimal margin – 12: 11. After the break, they were able to increase the lead to three goals, when fifteen minutes remained to play. In the next ten of them, Kuban conceded only one goal, achieving a decisive advantage. The result of the meeting was 26:24. Viktoria Zhilinskaite became the most productive for Kuban, providing six goals. Anastasia Shavman scored five goals, Valeria Sobkalo scored four times. All goalkeepers of Kuban played well, reflecting 43 percent of shots in total.

– The game was equal. We were luckier in the end. The goalkeeper caught the ball somewhere, and the completion of his attacks turned out better than it was in the middle of the half. Hence the result, – said the head coach of “Kuban” Denis Saifulin.

Krasnodar staked out the fifth position. They beat rivals who have already completed the regular season by one point. “Kuban” in the last game before the playoffs will meet on April 21 at home with “Lada” from Togliatti.

Remember the last

Rugby players of the Krasnodar “Kuban” more clearly stated their claims to the third place in the championship of Russia in rugby-7. The southerners were able to push Yenisei-STM away from him following the results of the fourth round, which took place in Sochi on April 15-16.

Maxim Amonov’s team started the tournament with defeat, having lost at the group stage to Zilant from Kazan (10:12). Then the team from Krasnodar outplayed compatriots from Ust-Labinsk “Agrat”, who performed out of competition, – 31: 12. Then “Kuban” lost to one of the favorites of the tournament – “VVA-Podmoskovye” (17: 24), won “Rostov-DSTU” (29 : 5) and made it to the semi-finals from the second position.

In the match for reaching the final, the southerners could not defeat the reigning champions of the country from CSKA – 12: 31. But in the duel for third place, Krasnodar defeated the Perm Vityaz – 29: 0. In the final, CSKA beat VVA-Podmoskovye with a score of 34: 12.

In the overall standings, Kuban moved up to third place (60 points). Ahead of CSKA (80) and VVA-Podmoskovye (72). Krasnoyarsk Yenisei-STM moved down to the fourth position (58). Three more rounds are planned in the Russian Championship.