On February 14, our team went to Saratov for the VTB United League match against Avtodor. Despite a decent fight and repeatedly equal chances to win during the meeting, the hosts of the court did not give away the victory today. Final score of the meeting – 78:70 (20:13, 20:16, 11:24, 27:17).
Starting five:
MINSK: Benjamin-Pavel Dodoo, Ognjen Pantovic, Vadzim Stubeda, DaQuan Bracey, Uladzislau Blizniuk.
Avtodor: Malik Newman, Nikita Mikhailovski, Brandon Garrett, Rade Zagorac, Danilo Nikolic.
Game scenario
At the start of the game, the opponents demonstrated an equal struggle, as evidenced by the same score on the scoreboard 3 times. The captain of the Minsk team made the first “three-point” shot, and then Zach Smith pleased the audience with a spectacular dunk. The score on the scoreboard was repeatedly increased by the opponents due to hits from the penalty line and went to the first break with a score of 20:13.
In the second quarter, the role of the leader in Rostislav Vergun's team was tried by DaQuan Bracey, who alone managed to score 9 points, including DaQuan was accurate once when throwing from behind the arc. However, Avtodor managed to increase the pace of the game on the home court, due to which the teams left for a long break with a score of 40:29.
In the third quarter, Minsk residents were able not only to reduce the difference in the score, but also to gain leadership on the guest court by its completion. Bright hits from behind the arc were made by four MINSK players at once: Uladzislau Blizniuk, Ognjen Pantovic, Jovan Sljivancanin and Aiaksei Trastsinetski, thanks to which Minsk residents were able to return to the fight with “-11” before the final quarter (51:53).
Interchange
At the start of the fourth quarter, Avtodor equalized the score on the scoreboard for the 6th time in today's meeting. After a number of offensive losses on our part, Avtodor were able to regain their leadership again. In our team, DaQuan Bracey and Zach Smith tried to correct the situation with accurate throws from an average distance, and Uladzislau Blizniuk scored another “three-point” hit. A minute before the end of the game, Vlad Blizniuk made a 4:0 breakthrough with a hit from under the ring and DaQuan Bracey in a fast breakaway. Next, Vlad Blizniuk made another accurate hit from behind the arc. However, the victory remained today for the owners of the site. The final score of the meeting is 78:70.
MINSK head coach Rostislav Vergun: ”We probably didn't have enough resources. Special thanks to those who make the calendar. We are very “lucky". We played 5 games in 14 days. We are the only team, in my opinion, that has played 5 games. Taking into account flights to Astana, Perm, Saratov. It's still a little hard for us. We don't have the potential to maintain the speed and aggression that we would like to see. Therefore, we must admit that both the bad start and the losses at the end were probably due to our fatigue.
The most productive:
MINSK: DaQuan Bracey – 20 + 3 REB + 5 AST + 2 STL, Uladzislau Blizniuk – 18 + 5 REB + 2 AST + 3 STL, Zach Smith – 11 + 8 REB + 1 AST + 1 STL + 2 block.
Avtodor: Malik Newman - 18 + 2 REB + 2 AST + 1 block, Scott Machado – 12 + 3 REB + 1 AST + 1 STL, Brandon Garrett – 11 + 6 REB + 2 AST + 1 STL.
The team has a little more than two weeks of break ahead, the next game will take place on March 3 at 19:00 against Samara at the opponent's home ground.