The Russian national team became the winner of the international tournament in Kazan. In the last match it beat the team of Iceland – 82:69.
From the first minutes it became clear that Iceland today does not shine a little. Traditionally, Timofei Mozgov started the game very actively: his 4 points for a couple of starting minutes – and 6:2. Opponent tried to suspend the Russian national team a long-range hit, but it only gave the hosts an additional impulse. In the middle of the quarter Mozgov (8 points in 5 minutes) finished the ball in the ring after his miss, for the first time making a two-digit gap in the score – 15:5.
Icelanders, however, soon halved their lag (19:14). Nevertheless, the end of the first period was dictated by the Russian team. 48:31 on the eve of a big break.
The third 10-minute was, undoubtedly, the most unfortunate for the Russians at the tournament in Kazan. Partly due to the fact that the exact three-point (6 misses per period) disappeared. And, perhaps, an evil joke was played by overwhelming advantage of the Russians in the first half. Anyway, the Russian team lost this quarter almost with a double score – 12:23.
60:54 after three quarters. Icelanders scored in the first attack of the final period, reducing their lag to 4 points. But for 6.08 – 72:59. After a pause, the teams could not score a minute and a half, while the Russians did not bring the difference in the score to “+15”.
Nevertheless, the opponents resisted as they could. For a minute and a half, the Icelandic team scored 8 unanswered points – and only 74:67 for 2.36 before the final siren. But Antonov withdrew the last questions – “+10” after his exact three-pointer.
Again, Timofey Mozgov scored 15 points.
