Avtodor Ends Season With Win Over VEF

Avtodor Ends Season With Win Over VEF

Avtodor defeated VEF at home, 96-84 (23-23, 24-22, 21-19, 28-20).

Top Scorers
Avtodor: Nick Minnerath (35), Josh Adams (19+7 ast), Vince Hunter (15+5 stl), Branden Frazier (10)

VEF: Alex Gordon (17), Martins Meiers (15+5 reb), Kristopher Richard (13+5 reb), Armands Skele (11)

Turning Point
Nearly the entire game was competitive. Avtodor led much of the contest, but VEF was within striking distance after three quarters, trailing 68-64. But then Nick Minnerath took over, knocking down three consecutive 3-pointers (along with one 3-pointer from Maxim Kolyushkin) to give the home team a double-digit lead. Riga never recovered, allowing Avtodor to close the season with a big win at home.

Stat
35 – number of points from Nick Minnerath, his second-biggest total of the season (he scored 37 last week against Enisey). Coming into the game, he needed 12 points to beat Alexey Shved for scoring champion. That wasn’t a problem as Minnerath finishes the season averaging 23.3 points per game. Following the game, United League general director Ilona Korstin and Avtodor president Vladimir Rodionov presented him with his Scoring Champion award.

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Quotes
Avtodor head coach Vladimir Antsiferov:
– Thank you to the players, management and club personnel, and, of course, our incredible fans for spending the season with us. The fans deserve an extra thank-you for the terrific support in our final game. This was a very difficult season for us. We were extremely inconsistent for objective and subjective reasons. In certain games, we were unlucky; in others we gave up. It’s good we were able to finish the season on a high note and reward everyone with a win and exciting game.

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VEF head coach Janis Gailitis:
– Congratulations to Avtodor on the win. The home team deserved it more than we did. Nick Minnerath and Josh Adams were both very strong individually for Saratov. We weren’t able to do anything on defense or offense today. We made a lot of mistakes and played disgusting basketball. The team needs to show heart if it wants to have success in the playoffs.

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