Zenit defeated Enisey at home, 94-78 (22-18, 30-16, 19-27, 23-17).
Top Scorers
Zenit: Ryan Toolson (16), Sergey Karasev (14), Janis Timma (13), Kyle Landry (12+5 reb), Stefan Markovic (7+17 ast)
Enisey: Frank Elegar (15+5 reb), Suleiman Braimoh (15+5 reb), Tony Taylor (14)
Turning Point
After a competitive opening period, St. Petersburg surged to a 16-point lead early in the 2nd quarter. Janis Timma and Ryan Toolson knocked down a couple three’s, putting Zenit on top 37-21.
Stefan Markovic kept the home team’s offense humming, dishing out nine of his 17 assists in the first half. He also scored the final two points of the 2nd quarter, sticking back an offensive rebound to make it 52-34.
Enisey played hard in the second half, cutting the deficit to a manageable 10 points entering the 4th, 71-61, but it wasn’t enough. Pavel Sergeev hit a 3-pointer for Zenit to open the 4th quarter and set the tone and the home team went on to win by 16.
St. Petersburg improves to 15-3, a half game behind CSKA. Enisey drops to 8-10, but remains in 7th place.
Stat
17 – Markovic’s 17 assists are a new season record and tied for 4th all-time in the League.
Quotes
Zenit head coach Vasily Karasev:
– The early start to the game was unusual and we had to wake the guys up and get them focused. We struggled early because it’s hard to have the same sense of urgency against different teams. But we started playing well on defense and took an 18-point lead. In the second half we relaxed a little and Karasev, Timma and Markovic each had 3-4 fouls, but we managed to get the win, even though this was far from our best game.
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Up Next
Zenit: March 12 at UNICS
Enisey: March 12 at Nizhny Novgorod
