The start of the season was really impressive. It seemed like Nizhny Novgorod continued from the same spot where they finished the last season. Inspired by their fans, black-and-whites played uptempo game making high percentage shots. Semen Antonov made a huge impact from the start with his 10 points in the 1st quarter shooting 100% from the field.
In the 2nd quarter our field goal percentage got a bit lower. Krasny Oktyabr used it as their benefit; putback from Igor Zamansy tied the game on the last seconds of the 1st half. However NN was up by 1 point at the end of the half after Artem Parahovsky made his free throw and DeAndre Kane missed a dunk.
3rd quarter was remembered by two spectacular steals from Evgeny Baburin and even more spectacular dunk by Semen Antonov after Taylor Rochestie’s dish . Nizhny played great in offense, but lack of defense let visitors stay close in the game.
Last few minutes of the game were the most decisive. Krasny Oktyabr made a technical foul on the capitan of NN and Antonov increased our lead to 5 points. In additional possession Richestie made a 3 pointer. Few crazy last minute shots from Volgograd didn’t make any difference and Nizhny got its first victory of the season with the score 92-85.
Ainaras Bagatskis, head coach of BC NN:
As we expected, it was a nervous game. Our prime objective was to stop “Krasny Oktyabr” from the beginning and we successfully managed to do it . Then we made some mistakes in defense which were the consequence of the difficulties on the final minutes of the game. That the team is strong individually, so there is no surprise that they got back in the game. However, I believe that we deserved our victory more and I want to congratulate the team and our fans with the successful start of the season.
Nizhny Novgorod landed Sean Denison
BC Nizhny Novgorod signed a one-year deal with Canadian bigman Sean Denison (211 cm, 111 kg, 32 y.o.). Last season he spent in Romanian CSM Oradea, participating in the national championship and Basketball Champions League. From 2011 till 2013 he played in Russian clubs Spartak-Primorye and Ataman.
Nizhny Novgorod terminated the contract with American forward Erik McCree who’d joined the team this august. The decision was made by mutual agreement. At the moment Nizhny is in search of a new player for the vacant place.
BC Nizhny Novgorod signed Erik McCree
BC NN signed a two-year contract with American forward Erik McCree (23 y.o., 203 cm, 102 kg). From 2013 to 2017 he was playing for Louisiana Tech in NCAA. Last season he showed his best statistics averaging 17,7 points, 8,9 rebounds, 1,3 assists in 33 games.
Sterling Gibbs joins BC Nizhny Novgorod
BC NN signed a two-year deal with American point guard Sterling Gibbs (188cm, 84kg, 24 y.o). In his college years he played for Seton Hall Pirates and Connecticut Huskies in NCAA. In 2016-2017 spent his first season overseas as he joined Hungarian team Kormend. He helped the team to semifinals in Hungarian Cup and Hungarian League averaging 14,4 points, 2,1 rebounds, 3,3 assists in 27 games.
