On January 15, a VTB United League match between MINSK and Lokomotiv-Kuban took place in Krasnodar. The meeting ended with the victory of the home team with the score 74:56 (18:14, 17:13, 23:11, 16:18).
Starting five:
MINSK: Daniil Kasko, Aliaksei Trastsinetski, Darol Hernandez Zinenko, Zach Smith, Uladzislau Blizniuk.
Lokomotiv-Kuban: Jaylen Barford, Alexandr Sherbenev, DeVaughn Akoon-Percell, Chris Horton, Dmitrii Uzinskii.
Game scenario
MINSK forward Daniil Kasko scored the first points for his team. Rostislav Vergun's wards showed a confident start, especially Zach Smith, who made two spectacular slamdanks at once and managed to score 6 points in a quarter. Unfortunately, due to the subsequent blunders on the part of the Minsk residents, the owners of the site managed to get the lead by the end of the first ten minutes of the game – 18:14.
But even in the second quarter, the Minsk team was not inferior in the desire to get the long-awaited victory. Not only was Zach Smith able to make the fourth bright dunk, he single-handedly made a 6:0 breakthrough and reduced the difference in the score between the teams to just 1 point (26:25). However, the owners of the court were able to increase the pace of the game. A block shot from Zach Smith in the last minute of the quarter did not allow Loko to get a double-digit advantage (35:27).
After a long break, Uladzislau Blizniuk and Daniil Kasko managed to make a breakthrough 4-0 at the start of the quarter. But Lokomotiv-Kuban showed a higher percentage of hits, which is why they retained the lead by the end of the quarter despite accurate throws by Uladzislau Blizniuk, Darol Hernandez Zinenko and Daniil Kasko. The teams went to the final break with a score of 58:38.
Interchange
Unfortunately, the difference of 20 points between the teams did not allow MINSK to win back in the final ten minutes of the match. Kiryl Sitnik loaded two bright “three-point” shots, and Zack Smith, Uladzislau Blizniuk, Daniil Kasko, Darol Hernandez Zinenko and Uladzislau Mikulski scored hits from an average distance. The meeting in Krasnodar ended with a score of 74:56.
The most productive:
MINSK: Zach Smith – 15 +4 REB + 1 STL + 1 block, Uladzislau Blizniuk – 10 + 5 AST + 1 STL, Daniil Kasko – 10 + 3 REB + 3 AST + 1 STL + 1 block.
Lokomotiv-Kuban: DeVaughn Akoon-Percell – 17 + 5 REB + 3 AST + 3 STL, Jaylen Barford – 11 + 2 REB, Alexander Shcherbenev – 10 + 1 AST + 1 STL.
The final game of MINSK in the first stage of the VTB United League regular season will be held away. On January 19” our team will play against Samara. The starting face-off is at 18:00.