Lokomotiv takes off early, downs Fuenlabrada at home

Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar remained undefeated in Group E by downing Montakit Fuenlabrada 86-61 at home on Wednesday. Lokomotiv improved to 3-0, while Fuenlabrada dropped to 1-2. Matt Janning led the winners with 25 points on 6-of-6 two-point shooting and 4-of-7 from downtown. Ryan Broekhoff added 13, while Kevin Jones had 10 for Lokomotiv. Pako Cruz led Fuenlabrada with 13 points and Ian O'Leary added 11 for the visitors, who were without injured stars Marko Popovic and Moussa Diagne. Three-point shooting made the difference in the first half, in which Lokomotiv hit 8-of-13 (61.5%) and Fuenlabrada downed just 1-of-14 (7.1%). Lokomotiv limited Fuenlabrada to just 3 assists and outrebounded its opponents 14-9 before halftime. Nothing changed after the break, as Lokomotiv kept a very safe margin until the final buzzer. Lokomotiv forced Fuenlabrada to low shooting percentages - 45.7% from two-point range and 19.2% from downtown and dominated the glass 33-19.

Janning got Lokomotiv going with consecutive three-pointers and got help from Ian Vougioukas and Jones to give their team a 10-4 lead. Janning hit two more from downtown after which Fuenlabrada called timeout at 16-4. Lokomotiv kept scoring fluently, as Evgeny Baburin scored in penetration, Taylor Rochestie followed a driving layup with a turnaround jumper, Broekhoff joined the three-point shootout and a layup-plus-foul by Janning fixed the score at 30-10 after 10 minutes. Cruz and O'Leary stepped up for Fuenlabrada and a layup by Rolands Smits brought the visitors within 32-18. Back-to-back triples by Baburin and Rochestie broke the game open at 42-20. David Wear and Chema Gonzalez tried to change things for Fuenlabrada, but Jones followed a put-back layup with a jumper, Broekhoff hit another one from downtown and Collins added a step-back jumper to keep Lokomotiv way ahead, 53-32, at halftime. Vladimir Ivlev took over after the break and free throws by Jones made it a 24-point game. Blagota Sekulic stepped up with a three-point play and Smits and O'Leary each buried one from beyond the arc to make it 66-46. Ludde Hakanson hit a jumper and a three-pointer, but Zubkov and Ivlev restored a 71-51 Lokomotiv lead after 30 minutes. Janning kept pushing Lokomotiv with three consecutive baskets, including a running jumper that sealed the outcome at 78-56 with over four minutes left.