“Lokomotiv-Kuban” on the home court interrupted the losing streak

Some lose, others find

The season for Lokomotiv-Kuban is not easy. So far, the team has more defeats than victories, which is a rarity in the history of the club.

Over the past week, Krasnodar twice went to the site. The first was the away game against Pari Nizhny Novgorod. She was already the third one to go directly to the field. Loko moved along the route Perm-Kazan-Nizhny Novgorod. In the first of this series of matches Krasnodar won in overtime against Parma Pari. And against Pari Nizhny Novgorod, they went out under the weight of defeat from Kazan UNICS (75: 83). One of the leaders of the tournament was hardly too tough for the young Krasnodar team. Nizhny Novgorod is an almost equal team. And the worse the defeat.

Even more annoying it due to the fact that the first quarter was excellent. Its Krasnodar team won by nine points. And he even made thirteen points – 13:26. Unfortunately, this remained the only success in the quarters. The Volzhans smeared quite a lot in the starting period, and then corrected the sight. They also added aggression – the Krasnodar team were not ready for a power game. Nizhny Novgorod mentor Zoran Lukich noted after the game that he drew conclusions from Krasnodar’s loss to UNICS and tried to impose a similar fight. As a result, Loko players made 25 catastrophic losses during the match. The opponent played much cleaner – only seven. It was not possible to fill such a gap, even if the Krasnodar players threw “three-pointers” much more accurately and made rebounds much more often. Pretty quickly, even before the big break, Pari Nizhny Novgorod took the lead and never let go of the initiative again.

A long-range hit by Jermain Love with a siren at the end of the third quarter allowed Nizhny Novgorod to feel comfortable before the final segment – 71: 58. This American became the most productive in the match, scoring 28 points. At the finish line, Krasnodar reduced the lead to six points at best. As a result 93 : 79 in favor of the hosts.

Finally, Loko’s players returned to Krasnodar, where late in the evening on October 31 they played a home game against Astana from Kazakhstan. It did not consider any other outcome than victory, especially since Astana does not shine in the tournament, it goes to the penultimate one.

The first quarter was more or less equal. Darral Willis became the Joker of Loko. The newcomer from Krasnodar came to the fore, having played his best match for the red-greens. In ten starting minutes, he scored thirteen points, adding three rebounds to them. A beautiful throw, like a stunt, from behind was made by the leader of the guests – Daniil Aksenov, a dunk was made by Deandre Parts. But Loko also had someone to lay the ball on top – Andrey Martyuk did this.

The second quarter in many ways became a “verdict” for Astana. Then she discovered an “epidemic” of losses. For the entire match, the guests lost the ball 22 times. And they couldn’t score for a long time, they scored only eight points in the second ten-minute period.

Another Krasnodar American, Jaylen Burford, also went into a rage. By the way, he used to play just in Astana, from where he moved to the Kuban last season. In the third quarter, after the loss of his team, he effectively caught up with the opponent and made a block shot, in a return attack he swept through half the area and scored from under the ring. The score became devastating – 58:36.

Krasnodar eased the pressure in the final quarter and even allowed the guests to win. However, this did not affect the devastating score. The victory with a score of 73:53 cheered up the team and the fans. And Willis eventually recorded 22 points in his asset.

Soon we’ll be on the road again. Ahead is the away game against Avtodor Saratov on November 6th. Loko can equalize the ratio of wins and losses by making it 4:4.

No sensation

Volleyball players of the Krasnodar “Dynamo” last week were involved in the semi-finals of the Cup of Russia. The wards of Pavel Zabuslaev got there following the results of the September preliminary stage, where there were “wide gates”: several teams went to the next round at once. In the semi-final itself, there was only a narrow loophole: there was only one ticket to the Final Four. The main favorite unconditionally was the host of the tournament in group “A” – Kaliningrad “Lokomotiv”. This team is the reigning national champion. The second contender is Leningradka, which got off to a good start in the new Russian championship. For “YuZGU-Atom” from the Kursk region, it was simply an honor to become the only team from the Major League “A” in the semifinals. Dynamo was the third force. According to the layouts, Krasnodar had little chance. In any case, it was important for the young Dynamo team to gain playing experience.

As a result, the participants clearly lined up in terms of ranking. Lokomotiv lost only one game to Leningradka in three matches. Dynamo could not catch on with the favorites. The team from the northern capital returned legionnaires from the world championship, and it defeated the Dynamos even more convincingly than in the first match of the super league, without losing a set.

Dynamo easily won against the team from the Kursk region even without a number of key players. In the final match against Lokomotiv, a clean sheet victory was required to advance. In other words, a fantastic alignment. Reality belied him. The Kaliningrad club won – 3 : 0, and the score in the games is quite severe. Loko will play in the Final Four on December 17-18 in Tula, together with Dynamo-Metar from Chelyabinsk, Dynamo Moscow and the host of the tournament, Tulitsa.

Dream comes true and does not come true

Sochi hosted PhosAgro, the Russian Rugby-7 Cup among men’s teams. Rugby players of the Krasnodar “Bogatyrs” counted on the victory. This is a young team, and in the Russian Cup there was a suitable age limit – up to 23 years. Unfortunately, the dreams of Krasnodar did not come true: the team became only the seventh. Her injuries summed it up: three main rugby players dropped out in the first matches at once. In the quarterfinals, Bogatyrs lost to Taganie Rog from the Rostov region, which included many Kuban rugby pupils, and became only seventh. And the winner was Yenisei-STM, which defeated Taganiy Rog.

Previously, the Kuban rugby players achieved long-awaited success. The team took fourth place over and over again in the Russian competitions of the current season. In the final tournament of 2022 in Anapa, where the third round of the Russian championship was held, the team of Maxim Amonov was able to break into the top three. Krasnodar beat Yenisei-STM in the small final. Now they have four final rounds of the championship ahead in the spring of 2023.