«Lokomotiv-Kuban» Krasnodar, Russia vs. «Nizhny Novgorod» Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

Lokomotiv-Kuban Krasnodar defeated Nizhny Novgorod at home on Sunday night, 92-69. Kuban raced out to a 16-point lead in the 1st quarter and never looked back, dealing Nizhny Novgorod a second straight defeat. With the win, Loko improves to 4-3.

Recap
Georgios Bartzokas's revamped Lokomotiv-Kuban stumbled a bit out of the gate in the VTB United League, dropping games to Nymburk and Bisons. Krasnodar could hardly afford another defeat, especially playing at home.

Nizhny Novgorod, meanwhile, led Lokomotiv by a game and a half in the standings, but last week's defeat to Krasny Oktyabr and injuries to Maxim Grigoryev and Evgeny Baburin meant the Volga club was an underdog in Krasnodar.

Without Baburin, Ainars Bagatsksis was forced to go big with Victor Rudd at shooting guard. Not surprisingly, Lokomotiv took advantage of its superior speed, outscoring the visitors 30-14 in the opening period.

The visitors tried both man-to-man and zone defense in an attempt to slow down Lokomotiv down. The strategy worked to some extent, but Krasnodar's efficiency on offense made it difficult for Nizhny to catch up. Lokomotiv only committed one turnover in the first half (Nizhny had eight) and led 53-36 at the break.

Nizhny failed to come back in the second half. Lokomotiv continued to take care of the ball and punish the visitors from outside. Alexey Zozulin scored eight points in 60 seconds for Lokomotiv midway through the 3rd quarter, boosting the home team's lead to 25. Over the final 15 minutes, Krasnodar controlled the tempo and cruised to a 33-point win.

Star of the Game
Chris Singleton. The American forward scored six of Krasnodar's first eight points and finished with an impressive 15 points, five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal.

Stat of the Game
7 - Lokomotiv-Kuban had seven players in double figures, each scoring between 10 and 15 points.

Quotes
Lokomotiv-Kuban head coach Georgios Bartzokas:
- We had to play two days after a tough game in Barcelona. It took us a long time to get home - we didn't get back until 3:40 am on Saturday, so I was happy to see how focused the guys were at yesterday's practice. Travel fatigue is a part of life for teams that play in two competitions. Nizhny Novgorod played an excellent game against Galatasaray, but was clearly tired today. Fenerbahce and Unicaja lost to weaker teams in their national leagues. It's tough for everyone, which is why the approach our players take to their work is very valuable. We played at least 30 excellent minutes today and tried to spread out the playing time in order to conserve strength for upcoming games.

Nizhny Novgorod head coach Ainars Bagatskis:
- When preparing to play Lokomotiv, it's clear why they've played so well in the Euroleague. First of all, they have a disciplined, intelligent offense. We needed to match that, but we seemed to forget everything we had practiced in the first few minutes. We lost the game in the 1st quarter. Lokomotiv scored 30 points because of our mistakes. After that, it's tough to catch such an experienced team. We have problems with our roster, but I repeat: there's no such thing as bad luck, just new opportunities. Today guys who hadn't got much playing time had a chance to play and they demonstrated that they can be counted on.

Stats