2018-19Top 16Round 3
January 16, 2019 CET: 20:00
Local time: 20:00 RATIOPHARM ARENA

Fridzon, Wright lift Lokomotiv in Ulm

In a direct battle for second place in Top 16 Group F, Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar climbed to 2-1 by downing ratiopharm Ulm 81-84 on the road on Wednesday. Lokomotiv is second, one win behind undefeated leader LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, and Ulm third at 1-2. Vitaly Fridzon led the winners with 24 points and Dorell Wright and Trevor Lacey each had 14 for Lokomotiv. David Kraemer led Ulm with 17 points, Ismet Akpinar added 14 and Patrick Miller had 13 for the hosts. Lokomotiv led 23-26 after 10 minutes and boosted its margin to 57-72 after three quarters.

Fridzon got Lokomotiv going with a three-pointer, but Akpinar and Miller each buried a jumper for a 4-3 Ulm lead. Bogdan Radosavljevic followed free throws with a layup, but an unstoppable Fridzon gave Lokomotiv a 10-15 lead. Jamel McLean took over with a three-point play and a dunk, which Dmitry Khvostov followed with a triple for a 15-23 Lokomotiv margin. After Akpinar struck twice from downtown, Fridzon buried another from beyond the arc to keep Lokomotiv ahead, 23-26, after 10 minutes. Lacey struck three times from beyond the arc in a 1-11 run that caused Ulm to call timeout at 26-39. Kraemer and Miller tried to change things for the hosts, but an unstoppable Fridzon and Dorell Wright restored a 41-53 Lokomotiv margin at halftime. Akpinar nailed his fourth three-pointer soon after the break, but he didn't find much help around. Meanwhile, Vladimir Ivlev and JaJuan Johnson boosted their team's lead to 44-59. Miller followed free throws with a three-point play and Kraemer added a triple to bring Ulm within single digits, 52-61. Ponitka hit free throws and Fridzon downed a three-pointer, but Kraemer and Ryan Thompson kept Ulm as close as 57-66. Fridzon and Lacey fueled a 0-6 run that made it a 15-point game, 57-72, after 30 minutes. Stanislav Ilnitskiy sank a corner triple early in the fourth quarter. Javonte Green brought Ulm a bit closer and Per Guenther had 5 points in a 7-0 run that gave Ulm hope at 68-75, with over 6 minutes left. Green dunked, Kraemer added a layup and a driving basket by Maximilian Ugrai prompted the guests to call timeout at 74-77. Thompson hit free throws to make it a 1-point game, but Wright swished a turnaround jumper and Johnson copied him on the next offense for a 76-81 Lokomotiv edge with 30.6 seconds left. Ulm got within 79-82 and Miller missed from downtown. Wright drew a foul and calmly made free throws to seal the outcome, 79-84, with 9.2 seconds to go.

Pivotal performer

Wright made just 2 of 11 field goal attempts in this game, but was Lokomotiv's glue guy. He finished the game with 16 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, 6 fouls drawn and a performance index rating of 16. With the game on the line and Lokomotiv desperately needing points, Wright downed a big turnaround jumper that helped his team to regain momentum.

Game-changing moment

Ulm managed to get within 76-77 in the next-to-last minute. Wright took over with a wild turnaround jumper late in the shot clock and Johnson hit a similar shot soon after that to seal the outcome, 76-81.

Stellar stat

Lokomotiv won the battle under the boards, outrebounding Ulm 31-41. The guests pulled down 31 defensive rebounds, matching its season high - it also had 31 against Arka Gdynia in Round 1 of the regular season.

Did you notice?

Fridzon had a new EuroCup career-high scoring night - 24 points, beating a personal mark that was almost a decade all. His previous best scoring night was against Panellinios Athens, playing for Khimki Moscow Region, on February 24, 2009. He had 21 points that day.

Next game:

Both teams meet again at Basket Hall in Krasnodar, Russia on Wednesday, January 23. If both Lokomotiv and ASVEL win, both teams will qualify and Ulm and Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt will be eliminated from eighthfinals contention.

Mateusz Ponitka - Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar (photo Ulm) - EC18
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: HIERREZUELO, DANIEL; GELLER, RENAUD; NEDOVIC, MILAN
Attendance: 3062 (Tentative)
By Quarter1234
ratiopharm Ulm23181624
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar26271912
End of Quarter1234
ratiopharm Ulm23415781
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar26537284
ratiopharm Ulm
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 MILLER, PATRICK 26:15 13 5/12 0/1 3/3 1 2 3 5         2 2 13
3 EVANS, DWAYNE 20:53 2 0/4 0/3 2/2   3 3 1 1 1   2 2 1 -4
5 GREEN, JAVONTE 16:43 7 3/4 0/1 1/2   2 2 1 2 3     5 2 3
6 GUENTHER, PER 11:10 7 1/2 1/1 2/2       1 1 1     1 2 8
7 THOMPSON, RYAN 22:36 5 1/3 0/2 3/4   2 2 3 1       1 3 8
8 AKPINAR, ISMET 20:44 14 1/2 4/7 0/2       1         1 3 11
10 PHILIPPS, CHRISTOPH 7:13   0/1           1 1           1
11 PAPE, TILL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 RADOSAVLJEVIC, BOGDAN 14:51 7 2/3 0/1 3/4   3 3   1   1   3 4 10
30 UGRAI, MAXIMILIAN 19:37 9 2/3 1/3 2/2 1 2 3 5   1   1 4 1 9
34 SCHILLING, GAVIN 19:20   0/1     1 5 6   1 2 1   2   3
44 KRAEMER, DAVID 20:38 17 2/5 3/4 4/4   2 2 1       1 3 2 14
Team           4 3 7               7
Totals 200:00 81 17/40 9/23 20/25 7 24 31 19 8 8 2 4 24 20 83
        42.5% 39.1% 80%
Head coach: LEIBENATH, THORSTEN
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
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 MCLEAN, JAMEL 5:26 5 2/2   1/2       1           2 7
3 WRIGHT, DORELL 28:37 14 1/3 1/8 9/10   2 2 6   2 2 1 1 6 16
5 LACEY, TREVOR 28:21 14 2/3 3/6 1/2   3 3 4 1 4     3 1 11
6 SHCHERBENEV, SASHA 1:00                              
7 FRIDZON, VITALY 31:32 24 3/7 5/10 3/3 2 1 3     1     3 3 17
10 IVLEV, VLADIMIR 13:20 2 1/2     3 5 8   1   1   3 2 10
11 ILNITSKIY, STANISLAV 7:23 3   1/1                   2 2 3
13 KHVOSTOV, DMITRY 18:46 5 1/1 1/2     2 2 3         4   5
20 PONITKA, MATEUSZ 33:58 8 1/3 0/1 6/6 3 6 9 2   3   1 1 6 17
22 KULAGIN, DMITRY DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
25 JOHNSON, JAJUAN 31:37 9 4/9   1/1   6 6 1 1 2 1   3 2 10
Team           2 6 8     1         7
Totals 200:00 84 15/30 11/28 21/24 10 31 41 17 3 13 4 2 20 24 103
        50% 39.3% 87.5%
Head coach: JOVANOVIC, VLADA

Head Coaches

LEIBENATH, THORSTEN
ratiopharm Ulm
"First of all, I want to say congratulations to Lokomotiv, who deserved this win overall. They were the better team. Especially in the first half, they really showed why they are also the favorites to win the title. I am proud of the way we fought ourselves back into this game. Our defensive effort in the second half was really impressive. I also felt that often times our ball movement was good. We ended up the game with more assists than Lokomotiv had and that shows we also had chances to win this game. What definitely hurt us was that our defense was not on point in the first half. We let them make passes too easily. When the passes go through the paint on a string to find a three-point shooter, then it is going to be difficult to create stops. We were too passive on pick-and-roll defense and this is why they scored 53 points [in the first half]. Fridzon got hot, Lacey got hot and we needed 20 minutes to adjust to it."
JOVANOVIC, VLADA
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar
"Ulm is a very good team. I think that until now, they had only lost one game at home in this EuroCup season, so they are very strong on their home court. We played well in the first half, but came here with a lot of injury problems. We had two players out of our rotation and had one more problem when Jamel [McLean] had a leg problem in the first quarter. So we had to be without one more very important player for us. We tried to keep the rhythm and our efforts, especially on defense, and to keep moving the ball well on offense, but in the fourth quarter, we were without energy, which is very important if you are playing against Ulm at home."

Players

WRIGHT, DORELL
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar
"I think we had a little more at the end. These guys kept fighting and, playing in the German League last year, I understand how this team fights each and every night. They have a great group of guys, and a lot of these guys got better from last year. They made it hard for us. It wasn't easy, but we knew that. We came out on top and that is all matters. Experience is important, 100%, making big shots at the end and staying with it. I missed everything tonight and I think I hit the biggest one, so I am happy with that. That is how the game goes sometimes."
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