«Lokomotiv-Kuban» Krasnodar, Russia vs. «Tsmoki-Minsk» Minsk, Belarus

Lokomotiv-Kuban defeated Tsmoki-Minsk at home, 80-50. The Russians locked down on defense, holding a beleaguered Tsmoki offense to 26 points in the first half. Leading by 12 at halftime, Krasnodar cruised in the second half to a 30-point win. The Railwaymen have now won two straight and improve to 7-5.

Recap
Lokomotiv-Kuban entered Saturday's contest in 7th place, trailing 6th-place Nymburk by one game. Tsmoki-Minsk was tied for 9th and had a chance to close the gap on 8th-place Nizhny Novgorod with a win in Krasnodar.

The home team stifled Tsmoki's offense in the opening quarter. The visitors were 3-14 from the field in the first 10 minutes and didn't knock down their second field goal until the 8:47 mark of the period.

Chris Singleton and Anthony Randolph shut down the paint for Krasnodar, while Tsmoki struggled to connect from outside. During the 2nd quarter, Lokomotiv led by as much as 14 points. The Belarusians briefly cut the lead to eight, but the Railwaymen finished the first half strong, taking a 38-26 advantage into the locker room.

Lokomotiv continued to frustrate Tsmoki's attack in the 3rd quarter. The visitors were forced into bad shots and struggled to find any rhythm on offense. At the other end, Lokomotiv's Malcolm Delaney got hot in the 3rd quarter, scoring six points. Entering the 4th quarter, the home team enjoyed a commanding 58-38 advantage.

An 11-2 run to open the final period erased any lingering doubts as to the outcome. 10 players finished with five or more points and Lokomotiv cruised to an 80-50 victory to take a two-game winning streak into the New Year.

Star Player
Anthony Randolph. Loko's American big man was excellent on defense and the glass. He finished with nine points and nine rebounds to go with a pair of crowd-pleasing blocks.

Stat of the Game
21-7 - Kuban moved the ball on offense, recording 14 more assists than visiting Tsmoki-Minsk.

Quotes
Lokomotiv-Kuban head coach Georgios Bartzokas:
- First of all, I want to say Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrated today and wish everyone a Happy New Year. Congratulations to my team for their attitude entering today's game. We made sure we didn't underestimate our opponent and took our task seriously, while still spreading out the playing time. We need to win as many games in a row as possible in the VTB United League. We're at the bottom of the standings right now and we need to be more consistent in the second half of the season.

Tsmoki-Minsk head coach Igor Grishchuk:
- We played poorly today. First of all, on offense: 13% from outside is not good. Once again, we're missing a center and one of our guys got sick on the trip to Krasnodar. We don't have any depth, which results in this type of outcome.

Snapshot