Zenit beat Kalev on the road – 75:74 (22:15, 19:25, 21:14, 13:20).
The best scorers
Kalev: Donovan Jackson (27) Kristjan Kitsing (14) Silas Melson (12).
Zenit: Alex Poythress (21 + 7 rebounds), Jordan Loyd (11 + 6 rebounds + 5 assists), Sergey Karasev (11), Jordan Mickey (11), Dmitry Kulagin (5 + 7 assists).
Game progress
Kalev (3-8) came to the game after 3 consecutive losses in 9th place in the standings. Zenit (9-3) closed the Top-3. The 1st half was in an equal game. In the middle of the starting quarter, with Jordan Loyd and Sergey Karasev shots, the St. Petersburg team led the game – 22:13, but that was the largest advantage of one of the teams, and it did not last long. Ojars Silins scored two 3-pointers in a row at the beginning of the 2nd quarter, bringing Kalev back into the game. Soon the hosts were already ahead. Before the halftime, both teams scoring points more often from the free-throw line. Zenit got minimal lead after 20 minutes – 41:40.
The first minutes of the 3rd quarter were Alex Poythress domination. It was possible to stop him, and Kalev players had to foul him: the American scored 9 points and brought Zenit up ahead again. Kalev still found the way how to guard Zenit’s bigman and almost came back to the game, but the St. Petersburg team’s perfect game at the start of the 2nd half was enough to end the 3rd quarter with 8-point lead- 62:54.
Donovan Jackson scored three 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes and helped Kalev catch the opponent in the end.
The key moment
The result of the game was decided by the defense. A 1,5 minutes before the end, Silas Melson reduced Kalev trail to minimum – 74:75. At that moment, no one knew that these were the last points scored in the entire game. The teams then exchanged several missed shots, and in the last seconds Loyd became the key hero.
12 seconds before the final buzzer, Zenit guard made a turnover, but then recouped for a mistake. 3 seconds before the buzzer, he intercepted the ball out of Jackson’s hands, and after a timeout, he made an steal. With the 3rd win in a row, Zenit rose to 2nd place in the standings.
🔐 @mrjloyd steals the ball from Donovan Jackson and the win from Kalev! pic.twitter.com/eDYPBgQXMU
— VTB League (@VTBUL) February 7, 2022
Hero
Alex Poythress. The only one in Zenit squad who played more than 30 minutes. Xavier Pascual had little reason to send Poythress to the bench. The bigman scored 21 points and 7 rebounds, making 8 of 10 from the field and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line.
Numbers
4 – the number of Zenit’s turnovers. The St. Petersburg team valued the ball and significantly surpassed the opponent in points after steals – 16:2. Kalev made 12 turnovers.
Comments
Roberts Stelmachers, Kalev Head Coach:
– It was a close game, we are happy that we managed to control their offensive rebounds. They have a very athletic team it’s usually a big problem for opposing teams, that kept us in the game. We fought hard for offensive rebounds and got good looks from that, which kept us in the game. Unfortunately we didnt’ win tonight.
Xavi Pascual, Zenit Head Coach:
– I would like to congratulate Kalev for this game. I think they played excellent, it was a difficult game to win for us. For us the game was more or less normal until the last quarter, we were not effective from the open shots. Jackson played excellent in the last quarter and made it difficult for us. Finally we finished with this important win for us and we have to continue at the same direction.
What’s next
Kalev: road game versus PARMA-PARIMATCH on February 13.
Zenit: road game against Zielona Gora on February 14.
