VTB LEAGUE, TRIUMPH WON & KEPT AS 3RD, WITH A GREAT IVAN LAZAREV! Triumph, Russia, overcame Tsmoki-Minsk, Belarus, on the road 73-81, in Week 17 of the Regular Season. Lyubertsy got off to a slow start, trailing by eight points the first quarter. A 47-34 advantage in the middle two quarters, however, put the visitors in the driver’s seat and they closed out their 11th win of the season. Tsmoki-Minsk entered the contest on a nine-game losing streak. Adding to its misery, the club was eliminated from the EuroChallenge earlier in the week after losing twice to Turkey’s Gaziantep by a point apiece. Perhaps feeding off its frustration, the home team came out firing, led by Branko Mirkovic’s two 3-pointers and a dominant frontcourt. Triumph, on the other hand, had already clinched 3rd place in Group B and decided to experiment with its starting lineup. Not surprisingly, the visitors were sloppy and disorganized, falling behind 23-15 after 10 minutes of play. Lyubertsy did look better down the stretch of the first quarter and began the second on a 12-2 run. Improved defense was the key, though Lyubertsy also picked up the pace on offense. Following a timeout, Tsmoki began to play better and kept Triumph from pulling away, but the Russians still held a one-point advantage at halftime, 37-36. The third quarter, much like the second, began with Triumph on top. The visitors shut down Tsmoki’s attack and scored consistently at the other end. Evgeny Voronov led Lyubertsy, scoring and creating for teammates. But despite dominating most of the third, Triumph let Tsmoki back in the game near the end of the quarter, leading by just five points entering the fourth. Triumph turned to Kyle Landry and Jeremy Chappell to open the fourth quarter. Helped by Ivan Lazarev, the trio pushed the visitors’ lead to double digits. Tsmoki tried to fight its way back, but failed to get closer than seven points down the stretch. Triumph celebrates its 11th victory and drops Tsmoki to a 10th-straight loss. Ivan Lazarev (in the photo) was the best scorer of our players, performing 11 points more 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 12 of evaluation in 17, Evgeny Valiev wrote 4 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal for 11 of personal evaluation in 18 from the starting five, Artem Vikhrov added 5 points, 3 rebounds, 8 assists for 7 of evaluation in 29 and Pavel Spiridonov 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 2 of evaluation in 21. VTB United League Regular Season: Sunday, March 16th - Game 17: Tsmoki-Minsk vs Triumph Lyubertsy 73-81
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 10:41:21 +0000
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