«Автодор» Саратов, Россия vs. «Нижний Новгород» Нижний Новгород, Россия

Avtodor needed an overtime to escape Nizhniy Novgorod in a hard-fought battle that ended 94:86

The Plot
The home team dominated on the boards in the first quarter and shot the ball with a high degree of accuracy, which allowed them to claim a 28:23 lead. Denys Lukashov and Travis Peterson drained a couple of threes to open the second period as Avtodor’s lead extended to 16.

Nizhiy, however, quickly extinguished the fire as Maxim Grigoriev went on a shooting spree, hitting 6 for 7 threes (including 5 in the second quarter) in the first half, which allowed his team to close the gap to just one as the game entered the intermission.

Dmitriy Khvostov and Rashid Mahalbasic picked up where Grigoriev left off and hit a bunch of threes that allowed them to take the lead. Malcolm Armstead, however, was not going to let the game slip away, slashing and dishing to keep his squad up by two.

Nizhniy once again took the lead, but Avtodor caught up with the visitors to force the overtime and, using the momentum, finished them off in the extra period.

The Hero
Malcolm Armstead. The point-guard that fearlessly drives to the basket, makes the team run the floor, scores, dishes and, most importantly, helps his team get the wins.

The Number
Six. A record-tying game-half three-point performance by Maxim Grigoriev. Marco Popovic managed to accomplish a similar feat in 2010, while Marius Runkauskas and Roope Ahonen were on fire in 2014.

The Photo