In the away match of VTB United League "Tsmoki-Minsk" lost to "Enisey" Krasnoyarsk with the score 79:86 (13:18, 17:21, 27:23, 22:24).
Starting line-ups
Tsmoki-Minsk: Angelo Warner, Yauheni Beliankou, Jason Clark, Stefan Jankovic, Vadim Stubeda.
"Enisey":Casper Ware, Timofey Yakushin, Rion Brown, Aleksandr Gudumak, Sergei Balashov.
Game scenario
“Enisey” lost all three home games of the VTB United League, which inspired certain optimism. He was also strengthened by the recollection of last year's meeting in Krasnoyarsk, which was won by Tsmoki-Minsk. In general, the price of points in this duel was very important for both teams, which are not very comfortable while in the championship.
The start of the game turned out to be equal. At the hosts, Ware took the initiative to collect points, hitting twice from a distance. The guests' example was shown by Jankovic, who brought the team five out of seven points. However, gradually the Siberians seized the initiative and began to persistently increase the gap. Unfortunately, Stubeda entered the game unsuccessfully in our squad: in four and a half minutes spent on the floor, the center earned three fouls and had to sit down on the bench. Another nuance, seriously upsetting, was the unsuccessful implementation of free throws by the “dragons”: in the first quarter, they were hit from the line only in four cases out of nine.
The second period began extremely unsuccessfully for Tsmoki-Minsk. Not coping with the Enisey’s leaders in defense, and in the attack with the opponent's pressure, our team missed the spurt at 5:17. Rostislav Vergun knocked down the host's impulse with a time-out, made tactical adjustments to the actions of the charges, and those, returning to the court, responded with an almost equally strong blow in terms of emotional impact - 10: 2. Stabrovsky joined the sniper race in time: Andrey's 8 points helped the team break out of the 10-point deficit on the threshold of the break - 30:39.
After analyzing their own mistakes in the locker room, the “dragons” came out in the second half with a great desire to reverse the unsuccessful course of the game. Warner “flashed” with two “three”, his partner in the attack was supported by Clark, Jankovic and Hernandez-Zinenko - and the unpleasant gap from Krasnoyarsk dwindled to “minus 4” - 44:48. It is a pity that at that moment it was not possible to achieve more on the wave of inspiration, because the experienced Drazen Anzulovic also tried to bring down the guest impulse with a timeout. Nevertheless, the third quarter remained with Minsk team - 27:23.
Denouement
At the 4th minute of the final period, with the minimum difference in the score (66:67), the referees issued a rather controversial fifth foul to Jankovic, the most productive player of “Tsmoki-Minsk” at that time - Stefan scored 13 points. After that, the pressure of the Russian officials became even more merciless. An unsportsmanlike foul for an ordinary violation was unexpectedly received by Trostinetski, plus the technical foul for an emotional comment was given out to Rostislav Vergun. The production of a series of easy points helped “Enisey” to break away by ten points (80:70), which put “Tsmoki-Minsk” in a difficult position in the end of the meeting. During 39 seconds before the end of the match, Warner pulled the team to minus 5 - 77:82. “Enisey” requested a time-out, in which they discussed tactics for the remaining time. “Dragons” needed tough, but clean defense and accurate throws in an early attack. Alas, the host’s team was able to skillfully kill time, and when they got on the free throw line, they did not miss.
Prominent roles
American guard of “Tsmoki-Minsk” Angelo Warner demonstrated the most effective basketball in our team: he scored 19 points, having accomplished 3 of 7 long-range shots, was one of two players (with Stabrovsky) who threw free throws cleanly (4 of 4), forced the opponents to foul on him 8 times and raised the efficacy rate to 16 points.
Scoring leaders
"Tsmoki-Minsk": Angelo Warner — 19pts + 3reb + 4ast + 1stl, Stefan Jankovic — 13pts + 5reb + 2ast + 1blk, Jason Clark — 13pts + 3ast, Yauheni Beliankou — 12pts + 4reb, Darol Hernandez-Zinenko— 10pts + 3reb + 3ast + 3stl.
"Enisey": Ware Casper— 22pts + 5reb, Lemar Brynton— 21pts + 4reb + 2ast, Brown Rion — 10pts + 9reb + 4ast.
Rostislav Vergun, head coach:
A modern game is made up of many small things, a very important details. It often seems to us that we will be able to correct the situation, this moment is not so important. Already in the first half of the match, we lost nine points, missed eight free throws. Somewhere there were absolutely unnecessary fouls when the opponent could not find his attack. Without a nominal center, we were still able to impose a struggle on the opponent and did not concede so much, organizing a good defense.
Next game
The next VTB game “Tsmoki-Minsk” will play after New Year’s holidays: on January 15 they will play against Astana in Nur-Sultan. The meeting starts at 12.00 on Belarusian time.