Avtador clinches Russian Super League

Another season of action has drawn to a close in the Russian Super League as Avtador Saratov clinched the league title with a win over Universitet-Yugra Surgut. The winners travelled to Surgut and came away with a comfortable road win to seal the title and sweep the series 2-0.

It was perhaps a fitting result considering it was eventual Super League winners Avtador that claimed the Regular Season with 21-5 record. Yugra Surgut would have arguably been pleased to just make the final considering a patchy season that saw the club scrape into seventh place in the league standings with a 14-12 record.

Of course, none of that mattered as the teams squared off in the finals series, but the games went to form and Avtador strode to the title. It could have been different though as Surgut held the lead after three quarters of this game, and were threatening to prolong the series. However, the hosts’ good work was undone by a resurgent fourth stanza performance by Avtador, with the visitors clinching the win with a last ditch 32-14 haul. Despite the undoubted spirit of the winners, Surgut will rue the fact the players made 27 personal fouls during the last quarter.

Courtney Forston topped Avtador with 28 points and 7 rebounds, while Aleksei Vzdykhalkin had a good game for the winners with 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists.

Propelling Surgut to a lead after thirty minutes were Nikola Lepojevic with 23 points and Anton Ageev with 12 points.