Zenit St. Petersburg defeated Avtodor Saratov on the road, 96-90 (25-29, 29-21, 19-17, 23-23).
Top Scorers
Avtodor: Nick Minnerath (28 + 11 rebounds), Branden Frazier (16 + 7 assists), Artem Klimenko (12 + 9 rebounds)
Zenit: Sergey Karasev (34), Stefan Markovic (21 + 7 assists), Kyle Landry (12), Anton Pushkov (8 + 7 rebounds)
Turning Point I
The visitors grabbed the momentum in the 2nd quarter. After giving up 29 points in the opening period, Zenit was able to slow Avtodor down and grab the lead. Sergey Karasev led the way in the 2nd, scoring 12 of his 34 points to put Zenit on top, 54-50, at halftime.
Stat
17 – Avtodor committed 17 turnovers, while giving up 17 points off turnovers. Zenit, on the other hand, only gave the ball away 8 times, leading to just 8 points for Avtodor.
Turning Point II
Avtodor never got closer than five points in the final period. Every time the home team started to make a run, Zenit had a response. Kyle Landry sank a pair of crucial free throws with a little under four minutes to play, while Karasev had a big jumper at the 2:57 mark that made it an eight-point game.
After Nick Minnerath cut the deficit to five, 95-90, with 36 seconds remaining, Stefan Markovic secured an offensive rebound on an Aaron White miss and iced the game at the line.
Star
Sergey Karasev. The Russian guard lit up Avtodor’s defense for 34 points on 11-20 shooting (7-8 from the line). Through three games in the League, Karasev is averaging 22.0 points per game and has played a crucial role in Zenit’s 3-0 start.
Up Next
Avtodor: October 30 vs. CSKA
Zenit: October 30 vs. VEF
Snapshot
