Zenit beats CSKA in the game of the week – 82:79 (22:27, 24:22, 20:13, 16:17).
Top scorers
CSKA: Darren Hilliard (16), Mike James (12 + 5 assists), Will Clyburn (8 + 5 rebounds).
Zenit: Evgenyi Voronov (15), Anton Ponkrashev (13), Austin Hollins (13).
Story
Zenit had some frontcourt players injured in the first game of the season against Top-5 league’s team. Anton Pushkov, Gustavo Ayon and Andrei Zubkov were injured in the beginning of this season (CSKA’s newcomer Kosta Koufos was also injured). But Zenit managed to end first half with the same amount of rebounds as CSKA – 17:17. Saint-Petersburg’s team also showed good perimeter defence: CSKA snipers scored 17 threes against Valencia in Eurolaegue and only 4 threes during first half in this game (36%). Moreover, Zenit made three-pointers its strongest weapon (8 of 15). Anton Ponkrashev and Evgenyi Voronov’s “bombs”, each of them shot 2 of 3, helped hold CSKA, that showed well-coordinated work in offence. Moscow team shot 14 of 22 2-pointers with only 2 turnovers, 7 CSKA players scored 6+ points. In the end of the first quarter Red Blues managed to increase their lead to 9 points (25:16), but Zenit quickly returned to 3-5 point differential, which remained till the halftime (49-46), CSKA leads. In the third, Zenit took over the game. Petersburg team showed better defence making CSKA players miss their shots, they scored only 13 points in 10 minutes. Zenit scored 20 points via Ponkrashev and Voronov’s efforts and took the lead before the final quarter – 66:62. Vladislav Trushkin three and Austin Hollins’ offensive efforts helped guests try to make 2 runs (69:62, 75:68) but Daniel Hackett saved CSKA twice with his long-range shots. The game got close to clutch with Zenit’s 1-point lead (75:74).
Key moment
In last five minutes of the game both teams made only 3 field goals – two of them by Zenit (Will Thomas, Voronov). This and Hilliard’s missed free throw let Zenit have a minimal lead (79:78) one minute before the buzzer. CSKA couldn’t arrange its offence in key moment – Hackett made a turnover and Hilliard missed from beyond the arc. Andrew Albicy and Tim Abromaitis’ made free throws brought Zenit the first victory against CSKA on their homecourt. Zenit won both games (2-0) and CSKA now has negative record (1-2).
Stat
1-2 For the first time in CSKA history the team lost 2 of 3 starting games.
Hero
Evgenyi Voronov. Zenit’s captain showed his leader mentality and led his teammates in a difficult situation. Playing less than 20 minutes he made 6 of 9 field goals and became team’s best scorer – 15 points. Voronov shot one of the clutch shots (79:77) and then there were no lead changes.
Comments
CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis:
Congratulations to Zenit, they won in a tight game, where each team could take th lead. They had better field goal percentage and made 8 of 15 threes in the first half. Zenit continued to do this in the second half either, making mid-range shots in addition. On the other hand, our third quarter was awful. We were bad at shooting tonight, only 59% from the line, 4 of 16 2-pointers in the second half. Shots made the difference tonight.
Zenit head coach Joan Plaza:
I hope fans enjoyed the game. Nothing was clear till the very end of the game, there were lots of lead changes and both teams won 2 quarters. In the halftime it seemed like CSKA was about to take the lead but we were strong. What I like about this team is that we have players that help our team to stay in the game in such situations. I’m proud of this win not only because we won, but because we showed mentality that I’m trying to teach this team – we can lose, but we must fight till the end. We are still in the process understanding that there are things to do, CSKA still play better. I hope we will continue to progress. Today we are just happy to beat Europe’s best team.
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