At the beginning of the meeting, the teams had more losses than effective shots. It took MBA almost four minutes to score the first points from the game, while Avtodor needed all seven. In the “low-level” game, the Muscovites were able to pull ahead a little, but by the first break the hosts had practically leveled the difference.
At the start of the second ten minutes, the Saratov team not only equalized the score, but also took the lead, but MBA immediately regained the lead with two “threes” from Evgeniy Voronov and Andrey Lopatin. The last word in the first half still belonged to the Volga team, or more precisely to Rayshawn Hammonds: the American took advantage of MBA’s mistakes, scored four points in a row and sent his team to the locker room at “+4”.
After a long break, Avtodor retained the initiative and was able to strengthen its leadership. In the third quarter, Alexander Khomenko took his word: the defender scored 12 points out of 21 and brought MBA back to within one hit, but by the end of half an hour of the game, the Volga team’s handicap had grown to “+6”.
In three minutes of the final quarter, our guys made a 7-0 spurt and took the lead, after which an exchange of blows began - the teams constantly seized the lead, and the difference did not exceed two points. The hero of the end was Maxim Barashkov: at “-2” the forward scored twice from behind the arc, and it was these hits that became decisive. The final score from the free throw line was set by Andrei Lopatin - 74:71, MBA won its fifth victory in a row and updated its personal record in the VTB United League.
