Pari Nizhny Novgorod defeated Zenit on the road – 99:89 (18:13, 27:21, 27:28, 27:27).
Game progress
Zenit started the game confidently, taking the lead from the start, but the guests were not going to settle for playing catch-up. Pari Nizhny Novgorod quickly stepped up the defense and positional offense, matching the hosts in assists and surpassing them in efficiency. This allowed to finish the first quarter with a 5-point lead.
In the second quarter, Pari NN achieved a double-digit lead, and the efforts of the St. Petersburg team were not enough to start a comeback. The main problem remained long-range shots, the hosts had huge problem with scoring them (20%) with approximately the same number of attempts (15-16).
Zenit was unable to change of the game after the break, even though winning the third quarter. The hosts went into the final quarter trailing by 10 points.
Key moment
Despite all the efforts of the St. Petersburg team to tie the score in the final quarter, Pari NN responded with three-pointers. Towards the end, Zenit began to press the opponent more, but 5 long-range shots removed all hosts chances to win. Nizhny confidently secured the win, pushing the opponent down to 4th place in the standings.
X-factor
The winner of the game was determined by the difference in three-point shooting (52.9% vs 31.3%).
Facts
Pari NN repeated its season-high in three-pointers made in a single game – 18.
The last time St. Petersburg team lost to Pari Nizhny Novgorod at home in October 2019.
Zenit’s 7-game winning streak at home came to an end.
Leaders
Zenit: Levi Randolph (18), Andrei Martiuk (12 + 12 rebounds), Vladislav Emchenko (11), Trent Frazier (10 + 9 assists)
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: Isaiah Washington (28 + 5 assists), Norbert Lukacs (20), Ilya Platonov (13)
What’s next
Zenit: January 18 on the road versus Lokomotiv Kuban
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: January 17 at home against Avtodor.
