On October 19, the home match of MINSK against Samara took place at the Falcon Club Arena. For our guys, this game was the second in a row since the beginning of the week. The opponent arrived today without head coach Drazen Anzulovic, who is recovering from a planned operation. He was replaced on the coaching bridge by Croatian specialist Stipe Kulis. In a worthy fight, the opponent from Samara turned out to be stronger today. Final score of the meeting – 78:91 (18:27, 21:21, 22:32, 17:11).
Starting fives:
MINSK: Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson, Grigorшш Motovilov, Vadяim Stubeda, Kanstantsin Pasko, Benjamin-Pavel Dodoo.
Samara: Nikola Rebic, Alexandr Gudumak, James Thompson, Ilya Platonov, Justin Robinson.
Game progress
The opponent from Samara took a very fast pace of the game at the start of the match and managed to get a double-digit advantage in the first minutes, while only Vadяim Stubeda managed to make an accurate throw in our team. Minsk residents took a timeout, after which Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson reduced the gap in the score with another accurate throw. After that, the Minsk residents made a breakthrough of 6 points, which forced the opponent to take a timeout. Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson pleased the fans with two bright “three–point” shots, however, a number of hits from Samara again increased the difference in the score by the end of the first quarter in favor of the guests - 18:27.
Minsk residents did not plan to slow down and made several scoring runs in the second quarter, and Jacob Cebasek in tandem with Grigorii Motovilov managed to make three bright “three-point" shots for the first half of the quarter. However, the Samaritans did not want to give up leadership on the site either. A couple of effective attacks performed by Russian opponents again, unfortunately, did not allow MINSK to significantly reduce the difference in the score. The teams went to the big break with a score of 39:48.
In the third quarter, the stubborn struggle continued. Working well together on offense, Rostislav Vergun's wards managed to reduce the double-digit gap thanks to accurate hits by Daniil Kasko and Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson. However, the offensive blunders and mistakes of the Minsk residents again made Samara a confident leader of the site. It is worth noting the incredible accuracy of Jarred, who made 7 long-range hits by the end of the third quarter. The teams went to the final break with a score of 61:80.
Interchange
It is worth noting that the MINSK players fought until the last seconds and did not want to give the victory to the guests. Our guys again made scoring runs of 5 and 6 points, keeping the hope for the first victory of the season. However, the comfortable advantage obtained by Samara at the beginning of the meeting allowed the opponent to maintain the lead. The final score of the meeting is 78:91.
The most productive:
MINSK: Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson – 34 + 5 REB + 5 AST + 1 STL, Daniil Kosko – 13 + 3 REB + 2 AST + 1 STL, Grigory Motovilov – 10 + 2 REB + 5 AST + 1 block.
Samara: Hayden Dalton – 22 + 8 REB + 5 AST + 2 STL, Alexandr Gudumak – 14 + 2 REB + 2 AST, Ilya Platonov – 13 + 1 REB + 1 STL.
MINSK head coach Rostislav Vergun: “Thank you very much to the fans for the atmosphere in the hall. After the previous not successful game, it was very important to find an emotional charge. The guys wanted to prove themselves, rehabilitate themselves. Of course, not everyone did it. The level of the League implies very high–quality actions, but when we get lost and make poor quality segments both in defense and in attack, we allow the opponent to break away and this does not give us a chance to stay in the game. I want to believe that we will have 7-8 reliable people in the rotation who can match the level of the League. I want the local guys to add faster, adapt and bring more benefits to the site. Congratulations to the opponent on a well-deserved victory.”
Our team will play the next match on the road against PARMA on October 22. The match starts at 15:00 Belarusian time. The broadcast will be available on the VTB United League website and Belarus 5 TV channel.