VEF Latvia defeated Zenit Russia in double overtime, 102-101 (14-15, 20-21, 19-24, 21-14, 11-11, 17-16).
Top Scorers
Zenit: Jalen Reynolds (32 + 11 reb + 3 stl), Codi Miller-McIntyre (15 + 6 reb + 7 ast + 3 stl), Sean Armand (14 + 5 reb), Evgeny Valiev (14)
VEF: Glenn Cosey (21 + 10 ast), Andris Misters (21), Artis Ate (17), Mareks Mejeris (15 + 8 reb), Arturs Ausejs (14)
Story
Glenn Cosey caught fire in double overtime, scorching Zenit for four 3-pointers, including the game-winner with one second left on the clock. After a wild evening of basketball in Russia’s northern capital, Sean Armand drained what looked like the game-winner with 10 seconds to go. But Cosey, who had already hit three triples in less than two minutes, capped a legendary double-overtime performance with one more from beyond the arc to give VEF the win.
The comeback was all the more remarkable, considering Riga trailed 95-88 with 2:10 remaining after an Armand 3-pointer.
But Cosey and Jabril Durham combined to score eight straight points and put Riga on top, 96-95, with 1:05 to go.
Zenit coach Joan Plaza was forced to call a timeout and his men responded: Jalen Reynolds, who scored a game-high 32 to go with 11 rebounds, converted a three-point play and Armand knocked down his second 3-pointer of the extra period. But it wasn’t enough to contain Cosey, who only signed with VEF a few weeks ago.
Despite leading most of the first three quarters, VEF found itself trailing by seven entering the 4th quarter, 60-53, after getting outscored 19-11 in the final five minutes of the 3rd quarter. Zenit stayed in control early in the final period, pushing its lead to eight several times, including 67-59 after an Ilya Usoltsev triple.
Arturs Ausejs sparked the Riga rally, scoring eight unanswered points to knot the score at 67-67. Over the final four minutes of regulation and the first overtime, the game featured five lead changes and five ties and neither ever led by more than three points.
Zenit played catch-up in both regulation and overtime #1, needing a 3-pointer from Codi Miller-McIntyre and Reynolds dunk, respectively, to stay alive. After missing multiple opportunities to secure the upset, VEF appeared sunk in double overtime, before Cosey came to the rescue.
The Latvians improve to 5-13 with the victory and have won back-to-back road games. Zenit drops into a tie with Astana for 5th place at 10-6, while seeing its five-game winning streak snapped.
Stat
18 + 15 – the game featured 18 lead changes and 15 ties. Neither team wanted to lose on Thursday.
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