«Нижний Новгород» Нижний Новгород, Россия vs. «Байзонс» Лоймаа, Финляндия

In a Regular Season game at home Nizhny Novgorod defeated Bisons – 71:69. Teams traded baskets throughout the whole game and neither could increase the lead during a very even contest. Nizhny won at the buzzer on a last-second three by Yevgeny Baburin.

Last season these teams played twice, both games were very close and both times Nizhny came away with a win. The stage was set for perhaps yet another nail-biter.

The team from Finland came out of the gate strong, but their hot air balloon was losing the air quickly. Nizhny turned up the effort on defense which led to some easy transition points and hit shots from behind the 3-point line. Their lead grew to fourteen points in the beginning of the second quarter – 30:16.

Bisons had to reach deep to try and mount a comeback and they had done precisely that – Martin Zeno scored eight straight points and later Jacob Burtchi and Mikko Koivisto each hit a three-pointer. As a result, Nizhny’s lead vanished – 37:36, just a one-point difference at the half!

The second half mirrored the first one. The visitors jumped out to the lead first and were ahead for an extensive period of time, but in the end of the final quarter Ainars Bagatskis decided to play a smaller quicker line-up putting Semyon Antonov at the center position. The Russian player scored on a few possessions and evened the score – 65:65.

The Key Moment

With 35 seconds left to play in regulation and the home team down by two Maksim Grigoriev got the chance to tie the game at the free-throw line, but only made one of two. Finns missed a shot on their possession, which led to a quick attack, but it turned out somewhat disordered and as a result of a few bounces Yevgeny Baburin found himself open with a ball at a three-point line. The buzzer sounded right as he nailed a three to the delight of Nizhny Novgorod’s fans!