CSKA defeated Zenit in the SuperCup final — 81:73 (21:10, 13:19, 25:21, 22:23).
Best scorers
CSKA: Will Clyburn (18), Iffe Lundberg (14 + 6 rebounds), Marius Grigonis (11), Nicola Milutinov (10 + 5 rebounds)
Zenit: Billy Baron (17 + 5 assists), Jordan Lloyd (15 + 6 rebounds + 6 assists), Alex Poythress (12 + 9 rebounds), Jordan Mickey (12).
Game progress
Already in one of the first possessions, Zenit suffered a serious loss — the hero of the game against UNICS, Shabazz Napier was injured in a collision with Nikola Milutinov. In the absence of Napier, who scored 33 points in the last game, Zenit offence just stopped. CSKA could not boast of high performance in the first minutes either, but the situation changed after a spectacular moment by Tornike Shengelia: the Army team forward steal the ball, went across the entire court and dunked. This significantly encouraged Moscow team, who gave a 10:4 burst and finished the first quarter in the leaders status-21:10.
At the beginning of the second quarter, CSKA continued to own the initiative, but Zenit clearly worked on the mistakes — first of all, the St. Petersburg team managed to correct the percentage of three-pointers. If in the first quarter Javi Pascual team never shot from behind the arc, then in the second accurate shots of Jordan Mickey, Billy Baron and Sergey Karasev helped the St. Petersburg team to return to the game. By the end of the first half, the gap between the teams was reduced to -5.
Zenit started the second half just as actively, but CSKA quickly took the course of the game into their own hands: Marius Grigonis, Nikola Milutinov and Iffe Lundberg organized a 10:2 run and returned a double-digit advantage to the Army team. CSKA held a comfortable advantage until the end of the third quarter, and only the explosion at the end of the quarter performed by Jordan Lloyd and Alex Poythress allowed Zenit to stay in the game — 59:50.
The key moment
Zenit was not going to give up: Poythress and Baron duo organized a chase and by the middle of the final game. And a little later, Lloyd’s three-point shot even more reduced the difference- 68:63. But here the secret weapon of Dimitris Itoudis showed itself: Nikita Kurbanov first scored and then added a hit from behind the arc – 75:64 a minute and a half before the final whistle. Zenit, represented by Lloyd and Mickey, did not lose hope of winning back, but Lloyd’s last attempt to go to the rim was failed. CSKA managed to maintain a comfortable advantage for themselves and won the first ever VTB United League SuperCup.
Hero
Will Clyburn. CSKA forward spent 32 minutes on the floor, became the top scorer (18 points) and the most effective player of the game (19 +/- points). Following the results of two games, Clyburn was recognized as the SuperCup MVP.
Numbers
10 points CSKA allowed to score Zenit in the 1st quarter. In the end, this difference turned out to be decisive.
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