Nizhny Novgorod defeated Parma on the road, 84-75 (25-18, 16-23, 16-14, 27-20).
Top Scorers
Parma: Ivan Nelyubov (18+6 reb), Konstantin Bulanov (15), Sergei Chernov (14)
Nizhny Novgorod: Kenny Boynton (25+7 reb+6 ast), Petr Gubanov (18+7 reb), Dijon Thompson (17+12 reb)
Turning Point
Parma kept it close with Nizhny Novgorod for 35 minutes, knotting the score at 67-67 with five-plus minutes to go. But the League rookies ran out of steam down the stretch. Nizhny’s savvy big men, Petr Gubanov and Dijon Thompson, took over in the final minutes, organizing a decisive 12-0 run. With the win, Nizhny Novgorod moves to 7-14 and keeps its playoff hopes alive.
Stat
7 – number of free throws made by Parma (Nizhny had 22). The home team shot 56% from the field, but couldn’t get to the line often enough.
Quotes
Parma head coach Viacheslav Shushakov:
– I’m happy with the team’s effort. There was a loss of concentration. Everything started with defensive rebounding and our inability to get them. As a result, we had to play more defense and come from behind. Unfortunately, we couldn’t shift the momentum in the game. Shots from guys that we were depending on didn’t go down. We were up against the wall: the pressure of needing a win got to us. You could tell during the game how guys handled the pressure. As a result, some players made the wrong decisions.
Nizhny Novgorod head coach Arturs Stalbergs:
– First of all, I want to congratulate my team and say thank you. I also want to thank our fans here and, of course, Parma’s fans. I hope every city and team has fans like they have here in Perm. As for the game, we stuck to our game plan. I knew it would be a tough game, point for point. We were patient and waited for our opportunity. As you can see, we made a run at the end and got the win. There were a lot of big moments in the game. One factor was our very aggressive play on the glass. 14 offensive rebounds really helped us. I told the guys before the game that we should play aggressively, because Parma was going to take the same approach.
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Up Next
Parma: March 30 at VEF
Nizhny Novgorod: April 2 vs. Khimki
