Marinovic, Enisey Send Primorye Packing

Marko Marinovic poured in 15 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter as BC Enisey shocked Spartak Primorye 89-66 on Tuesday to reach the EuroChallenge Regular Season.

The victory in the second leg of the Qualifying Round tie gave the Krasnoyarsk outfit a 147-141 aggregate triumph.

Unlike the first leg when Enisey managed to hit just three of their shots from long range, on Tuesday they nailed seven of 11.

Marinovic was the best player in this department because he buried four of six attempts from the arc.

Spartak were an awful three of 28 from long range.

The hosts had a dream start as they set out to climb out of the hole they'd dug for themselves last week in Primorye, in the Far East of Russia.

Eleven minutes into the contest and Enisey were on top, 26-14.

After moving into a 52-32 lead close to the mid-point of the third quarter, though, Enisey appeared to run out of steam.

Spartak got back on track and only trailed in the second leg, 61-49, early in the fourth quarter.

With four minutes to go, Enisey still only had a 73-59 advantage - a score that had Spartak on top by three over the two legs.

After four straight points by Lonny Baxter gave Enisey a 77-59 lead, Torey Thomas drilled a three-ball for Spartak to put them back in front on aggregate.

Baxter (20pts) split a pair of free-throws while at the other end, Spartak's Thomas missed two shots from long range and Alexander Pavlov was off target with a jumper.

Marinovic then hit a three to put Enisey in front to stay.

After another Thomas miss from behind the three-point line, Marinovic drove in for a lay-up to increase the Enisey advantage to 83-62.

Marinovic ended up making nine of 13 shots from the floor.

When he wasn't scoring, the 28-year-old was setting up his teammates.

He finished with seven assists.

Quotes BC Enisey vs. Spartak Primorye

Sergei Toporov, BC Enisey player:
"Many thanks to all fans of Krasnoyarsk, we are playing Eurochallenge. We began well, but at some point [we] slowed down; but we had a great 4^th quarter. [It is] very hard to play like this, counting the aggregate of the total score over two games. Normally it's easier to play for two wins, instead of fighting for score difference. I'm very happy we made it. We played a smart game and we deserve to play in the Eurochallenge."

Stevan Karadzic, BC Enisey coach:
"Congratulations to the players for this victory, they spent a lot of energy and power today. And many thanks to our fans for the support. This was a triumph of justice. Last season we were sixth in the national league but had to play qualification and we proved that is the place where we belong. The team was assembled quite late, we need more time to [be able to] play together to have extra power and game quality. In the game, the defensive rebounds were our major concern. Vladivostok had 19 offensive rebounds. We were nervous, which caused turnovers, but eventually we achieved our goal. We will be now playing in three competitions, which makes a good schedule for our spectators. They have a chance to see many games."

Boris Levanov, Spartak Primorye coach:
"It was a great game for spectators, for us it was a good lesson; it's always easier to learn from mistakes. With better percentage, we could have had a different result, anyways I am not ashamed of the team. We had a decent beginning of the season."

Gennadiy Zelenskiy, Spartak Primorye player:
"We were ready for this game, we did not think of the +17 pts difference from the first leg; we were ready to win the game. For us as a team this was a test as a first road game."