2014-15Top 16Round 3
Laboral Kutxa Vitoria 81
Nizhny Novgorod 74
January 16, 2015 CET: 20:30
Local time: 20:30 FERNANDO BUESA ARENA

Laboral rallies late to first Top 16 win over Nizhny

Staring down a five-point deficit at home late in the fourth quarter Friday, Laboral Kutxa Vitoria took off like a rocket until game's end to claim an 81-74 victory, its first in the Top 16, against Nizhny Novgorod. Both teams are now 1-2 in Group F. Nizhny was ahead most of the game and led by 65-70 on Taylor Rochestie's free throws with 3:08 to play, but then a dunk by Davis Bertans lit Laboral's spark and a huge triple by Mike James with 42 seconds put the game out of reach at 76-71 for Nizhny. James was Laboral's top scorer with 14 points, while Tornike Shengelia had 12, Mirza Begic 11 and Colton Iverson a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds, including 6 of his team's 18 on the offensive glass. Taylor Rochestie was nearly unstoppable, hitting 6 of 7 three-pointers for 24 points to lead Nizhny's ambush attempt. Trey Thompkins followed with 14 points and Artsiom Parakhouski 12 plus 11 rebounds in defeat.

FIRST QUARTER: Rochestie, Nizhny stake claim

A three-pointer by Rochestie opened the scoring, while Thompkins and Parakhouski soon upped Nizhny's lead to 2-7. Only a back-door layup by Darius Adams fell for Laboral during the game's first 3 minutes until Fabien Causeur broke the spell with another. Thompkins and Bertans traded shots from the arc but Bertans got fouled and turned his into a four-point play to get the hosts within 8-10. Parakhouski scored again, so even when Adams struck from deep, Nizhny still led 11-12. Tarence Kinsey ended a couple scoreless minutes with a jump shot for the visitors. Maksim Krivosheev followed him with a dunk in close, but Shengelia matched it with an up-and-under layup. Iverson's put-back dunk finished the quarter getting Laboral closer, but leaving Nizhny in charge at 17-18.

SECOND QUARTER: Nizhny controls scoreboard

Semen Antonov and Fernando San Emeterio traded baskets to open the second quarter. Rochestie hit a rainbow jumper to put the visitors up 19-22. Parakhouski scored in close and then dropped 2 free throws for the high lead until then, 19-26. Begic got a pair of baskets back for Laboral, but the hosts left Antonov open for a triple and a 23-29 scoreboard. James dropped a jumper that Rochestie neutralized with free throws, just as Thomkins did those of Begic with a put-back at 27-33. Back and forth they went with Adams scoring again, Ivan Savalyev hitting free throws and San Emeterio scoring in close as the difference remained the same, 31-35, as the first half finished.

THIRD QUARTER: James caps Laboral comeback

Neither team could beat the other's defense early in the second half, when only 3 of 4 free throws by Shengelia went in for more than 3 minutes, but that was enough to get the hosts within 34-35. Rochestie erased that gain with one shot, his second triple, but Shengelia got back to the line and was perfect there. James drove and scored at 38-39, while Causeur's free throws and a dunk by Iverson put Laboral back ahead, 42-39. Thompkins and Khvostov shot Nizhny back in front from downtown, 44-45, but James returned to the foul line to restore Laboral's lead. Kinsey took it back with a lane jumper and then Thompkins maneuvered inside for another basket. Good ball movement by Nizhny resulted in Kinsey burying a three-pointer that made it 46-52 and prompted a Labor timeout. Kim Tillie got a couple free throws back for Laboral then made a steal that led to another by Begic. The hosts kept charging back until James stopped cold and drilled a buzzer-beating triple to force a 52-52 tie after 30 minutes.

FOURTH QUARTER: Laboral roars back for win

Begic started the fourth quarter with a put-back dunk that the home crowd loved, but after Parakhouski answered, he had to do it again with a jump hook. Rochestie appeared on the arc and drilled his shot, then Antonov did the same from the other wing as Nizhny took a 56-60 advantage. San Emeterio's free throws seemed to settle Laboral, but Rochestie responded with a well-contested triple to make it 58-63. Laboral needed something, and Bertans returned to give it from the arc, although he failed to complete his second four-point play opportunity. Laboral's defense left Rochestie alone to punch in another triple at 61-66. Dunks by James and Iverson around free throws by Thompkins made it 65-68. As Nizhny got more free throws, these 2 by Rochestie at 65-70 Laboral got another dunk, from Bertans, and a driving layup by Causeur to pull within 69-70. On the two-minute mark, Laboral stole and Shengelia dunked before Iverson tipped in a miss to make it 73-71. It was still anybody's game until Iverson controlled an offensive rebound that led to James stepping back for a huge triple with 42 seconds left for a 76-71 lead. Shengelia and Causeur added free throws down the stretch as Laboral put the wraps on a first win in Group F.

Friday, January 16, 2015
Euroleague.net

Referees: ZIEMBLICKI, GRZEGORZ; NURAN, RUSTU; JASEVICIUS, TOMAS
Attendance: 8926
By Quarter1234
Laboral Kutxa Vitoria17142129
Nizhny Novgorod18171722
End of Quarter1234
Laboral Kutxa Vitoria17315281
Nizhny Novgorod18355274
Laboral Kutxa Vitoria
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 ADAMS, DARIUS 20:21 7 2/5 1/3   1 2 3 2 1     1 3 1 5
3 JAMES, MIKE 21:41 14 3/5 2/5 2/2 2 3 5   2     1 1 4 18
4 IVERSON, COLTON 23:14 10 5/7     6 4 10       1   3 1 17
5 CAUSEUR, FABIEN 28:26 8 2/7 0/1 4/6 1 1 2 3 1 1   1 3 4 5
7 SHENGELIA, TORNIKE 27:21 12 2/7 0/1 8/10 3 5 8   1 1     1 8 19
10 DIOP, MAMADOU DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 DIOP, ILIMANE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 TILLIE, KIM 13:48 2 0/3 0/2 2/2 2 2 4   1       2 1 1
15 BEGIC, MIRZA 15:37 11 4/5   3/4 2 3 5 1   3     2 3 13
19 SAN EMETERIO, FERNANDO 17:14 8 2/4 0/2 4/4   1 1 1         1 2 7
23 HANSBROUGH, BEN 8:17   0/1       1 1 1 1       2    
42 BERTANS, DAVIS 24:01 9 1/3 2/10 1/2   4 4     2     3 2 -1
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 81 21/47 5/24 24/30 18 28 46 8 7 7 1 3 21 26 87
        44.7% 20.8% 80%
Head coach: NAVARRO, IBON
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Nizhny Novgorod
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 BABURIN, EVGENY DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 PARAKHOUSKI, ARTSIOM 24:02 12 4/9   4/9 2 9 11 2 1 3 2   2 7 20
10 IVLEV, VLADIMIR 0:26                              
11 ANTONOV, SEMEN 30:26 8 1/2 2/5     2 2 2   1     2 1 6
12 PATSATSIA, LEVAN 17:57     0/1   1 1 2           3   -2
13 KHVOSTOV, DMITRY 19:48 3 0/1 1/1     2 2 2   1     5 2 2
21 KINSEY, TARENCE 33:20 7 2/8 1/2     5 5 1 1 3 1   4 2 3
22 ROCHESTIE, TAYLOR 32:37 24 1/4 6/7 4/4   2 2 5   3     3 7 28
23 SAVELYEV, IVAN 5:35 2     2/2         1       1 1 3
31 KRIVOSHEEV, MAKSIM 9:30 4 2/3     1   1         1 2   1
33 THOMPKINS, TREY 26:19 14 3/6 2/7 2/2   6 6 3   1     4 1 11
55 GOLOVIN, DMITRY DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           2 1 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 74 13/33 12/23 12/17 6 28 34 15 3 13 3 1 26 21 74
        39.4% 52.2% 70.6%
Head coach: BAGATSKIS, AINARS

Head Coaches

NAVARRO, IBON
Laboral Kutxa Vitoria
“It's clear that this was not our best game on offense, but it was also because Nizhny did a great job and deserves credit for that. They knew what they had to do, and we were not able to play a good passing game. We played impatiently and we had just 4 assists at halftime, and only 8 at the end of the game. The team knows that if we play defense we will have options to win, and today was that way. I don't think any of our players are selfish, but some of them need to score to feel good on court, like our two point guards. We are trying to teach them that some shots are not good shots, because in some moments the rest of the team wasn't able to mitigate that and played with worse ball circulation. We improved a little bit in the second half, and in the end it was good for a win.”
BAGATSKIS, AINARS
Nizhny Novgorod
“We knew what was expected from us in this game here. We played against the typical team that plays better at home than on the road, and we knew that we had to try to stop their transition game and to avoid their fastbreaks, and we did it most of the time. I think we had control of the game for the first 37 minutes, but then I don't know what happened. I'm not sure if we relaxed or maybe we thought the game was done, but their big men dominated the boards and we gave too much advantage. We have to play smarter against experienced teams. We must not show respect to the names of the teams we play against, because in this competition we will find big clubs, big players and big coaches, but in the end this game is not played by names, but by men. We have to learn from this experience”

Players

SAN EMETERIO, FERNANDO
Laboral Kutxa Vitoria
“It was an important win, we played good defense even though we didn't do so well on offense. In some other games in the past we were not able to play solid defense when we didn't find a good rhythm on offense, but today we managed to fix that and it was a key factor to get this victory and a lesson to learn from in the future. They are a tough team to play against, they know what to do pretty well and have won a few games. That makes them tough, and we had to play and fight until the end. Only solid defense allowed us to win and keep fighting for the playoffs.”
ROCHESTIE, TAYLOR
Nizhny Novgorod
“We just came here to get a win, so it doesn't matter about individual stuff, as the most important thing is winning and we couldn't do it tonight. We now have to regroup and try to get a win at home in our next game. At the end, we didn't execute a couple of things we needed, by all of us that were on the court. We allowed them to have 20 more possessions and that was too much. It was a tough game against a tough team. We must think just game by game, about the next win and try to protect our home court.”
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