For a more detailed look at the cause of the defeat, we decided to get the low down first hand, from the team’s Coach Mikhail Soloviev. Coach Valery Sizov celebrated his birthday in Krasnoyarsk but surely he had not expected the most prized gift from his boys.

Day 1: 83-85 (20-26, 17-12, 25-23, 21-24)
Top scorers: Sukhinin (20 + 7 rebounds), Mordakov (15), Levter (12), Karaulov (11 + 7 rebounds), Kuznetsov (11).

Day 2: 65-85 (19-28, 11-18, 17-21, 18-18)
Top scorers: Nikitchenko (13), Kuznetsov (11), Yakovenko (10).


According to Mikhail SOLOVIEV:

— On the first day the battle was even, in some categories we had an advantage over the opponent, in others they over us. For example, we had a lot of losses with 25 and the rivals made 18 steals. They played better at the game’s end, precisely for these steals. During the second game, the was a bad percentage of baskets, which was the main cause for the defeat. They scored as many as on the first day, and we did not make successful shots. We tried everything but did not have an effect.