«Enisey» Krasnoyarsk, Russia vs. «Tsmoki-Minsk» Minsk, Belarus

Tsmoki-Minsk escaped from Krasnoyarsk with an overtime win on Tuesday night, 94-93. After Tsmoki guard Anthony Hilliard forced overtime with a shot at the buzzer, Justin Gray gave the visitors the win in the extra period, knocking down a baseline jumper with three seconds left. Tsmoki-Minsk improves to 2-0, its best ever start in the VTB United League, while Enisey drops to 1-2.

Intro
Last season, the Dragons picked up their first win of the season in Krasnoyarsk after starting 0-6, but it's been a different story in 2015. The Belarusians scored a huge upset in Kazan last Wednesday, beating UNICS 91-83, and looked to make it two straight in Siberia.

The visitors came out strong, repeatedly feeding big man Garrett Stutz on the pick-and-roll to pull ahead by 14, 37-23, midway through the 2nd quarter.

Enisey didn't panic, closing the first half on a 12-0 run to cut the deficit to two, 37-35. Guard Vladimir Pichkurov sparked the home team, scoring the final six points of the half.

Tsmoki enjoyed the biggest lead of the 3rd quarter at 51-46, but trailed at the end of 30 minutes, 59-57.

The first five minutes of the 4th quarter belonged to Enisey. Pichkurov and Delroy James combined for four 3-pointers, spotting the home team a 13-point advantage with 5:39 to play.

Having engineered a 27-point swing in 20 minutes, Enisey appeared to run out of gas in the final minutes. It cost them dearly. Aliaskandr Kudrautsau's '3' at the 3:11 mark cut the deficit to seven, before seven straight from Justin Gray tied the game at 79-79 with 1:49 to play.

Gray tied the game again at the free throw line, 81-81, with 38 seconds left on the clock, setting up a dramatic finish. Enisey struck first on a David Kennedy jumper, before Tsmoki's Anthony Hilliard sent the contest to overtime with a basket at the buzzer!

Turning Point
The outcome was decided in the final seconds. James's 3-pointer gave Enisey a one-point lead with six seconds to play. On the inbounds play, Tsmoki gave the ball to Gray who drained a fadeaway jumper on the baseline. Enisey had one more chance to win it, but Pavel Sergeev's 3-pointer missed the mark, giving Tsmoki the win and a perfect 2-0 start to the season.

Star of the Game
Justin Gray. The American got hot when his team needed him most. He brought Tsmoki back in regulation and hit the game-winner in overtime.

Stat of the Game
3 - number of Tsmoki-Minsk players to record double-doubles: Garrett Stutz, Ivan Maras and Anthony Hilliard. That's a first in the VTB United League.

Quotes
Enisey head coach Oleg Okulov:
- The game didn't turn out quite how we would have liked, but we managed to improve on defense after a poor start and get back in it. We gave up some unnecessary baskets at the end of regulation. The game was even in overtime, our opponent was just a little luckier. They hit a tough contested shot and we didn't. Now that the game is lost, we need to draw the right conclusions and keep working.

Tsmoki-Minsk head coach Igor Grishchuk:
- We led by 12 in the 2nd quarter, then fell apart briefly. It's good that it happened in the 2nd quarter and not in the final period. I'm very satisfied with how we played. I want to thank my team. The guys played well.

Stats