Lokomotiv Kuban beat Zenit in St. Petersburg – 93:73 (26:24, 18:11, 25:19, 24:19).
Game progress
Kyle Kuric supported Zenit at the start of the game. After 7 minutes played, the guard got 3 shots of the hosts 4. Lokomotiv Kuban usual mid-range shots plan worked. The guests began to get away in the second quarter. Loko let the St. Petersburg team to make just 4 shots from the game (11 attempts), and a couple of steals led to 5 points at the end of the half and allowed to get a double-digit lead – 44:35.
The third quarter started with Andrey Martiuk performance: 11 straight points in 3 minutes – 4 made shots and an and-one. Loko led by 17. Zenit stayed in the game, but couldn’t hold the Krasnodar team offense. The guests replied on every hosts’ shot, and at the start of the final quarter got a 20-point lead.
Loko didn’t give Zenit a chance for a comeback. The team had 90-point game for the third time in a row and got 13th win of the season.
X-factor
Lokomotiv Kuban found Zenit weak spot and found Andrey Martiuk in the paint and pick-and-rolls throughout the game. The guests made almost 70% of their two-pointers (32 of 46), and Martiuk finished the game with a phenomenal 14 of 15 from the game.
Fact
Andrey Martiuk set a new career-high 32 points. He became the eighth Russian player in the League history who managed to score 30 points in a game.
Leaders
Zenit: Kyle Kuric (19), Tomas Heurtel (10 + 11 assists), Bojan Dubljevic (10).
Lokomotiv Kuban: Andrey Martiuk (32 + 6 rebounds), DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell (14).
What’s next
Zenit (13-6): January 5 on the road versus PARMA.
Lokomotiv Kuban (13-6): January 5 at home against Astana.
