PARMA outplay Zenit on the road – 86:80 (22:21, 14:9, 20:22, 30:28)
Top scorers
Zenit: Tim Abromaitis (16+9 rebounds), Mateusz Ponitka (15+7 rebounds), Will Thomas (13+5 rebounds)
PARMA: Artem Zabelin (19), Maxim Grigoryev (18), Eigardas Zukauskas (15+5 revounds)
Story
According to coach Maskvytis, PARMA had their best season game last week with a fantastic victory over Avtodor. Zenit’s form was positive as well: they surpassed UNICS in standings downing Kazan on the court. Perm started with a 7:0, and Zenit had been chasing the whole first quarter. The second 10 minutes were even worse as teams played better defense lossing the offensive speed. Zenit scored only 9 points in the second (6 of them by Mateusz Ponitka). PARMA were a bit better with 14 points which guaranteed their leading status by the halftime break – 36:30. Artem Zabelin started the third period with a spurt and although PARMA lost the quarter, they were leading before the final period – 56:52.
Key moment
The final quarter started with another run by PARMA. Lorenzo Williams, Zabelin and Maxim Grigoryev reached the double digit lead in 90 seconds – 62:52. Ural team were pacing up, and after Zukauskas’ shot from beyond the arc, Zenit were trailing a catastrophic 17 points (76:59)! However, St Petersburg came there to fight. The long range cannonade was their only option, and Zenit came back with 5 threes in a row – 81:76. But Dmitry Khvostov’s 3-pointer was no good at 84:80, and Perm maintained the lead. This is PARMA’s first road win!
Hero
Artem Zabelin. PARMA center led the team in offense scoring in various manners: from beyond the arc, mid-range shots, monster dunks. 7 Zabelin’s points in the beginning of the second half maintained crucial differential for PARMA. 19 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals make Artem one of the week heroes.
Stat
1 is not only first PARMA’s road win this season, but it’s their first in history victory over Zenit. By this date they had lost all 6 games.
Comment
Zenit head coach Joan Plaza:
When we give all 100% we can compete anyone in Europe. We have talent and wisdom. When we play 70% we have no chance. Tonight we showed 60-70% of our abilities. From the very beginning, the opponents looked like they had more desire to win. I don’t want to think that some of our players underestimated PARMA. Perm team are not in eurocups, they have more time to rest, that might be their factor. But we can’t say we’re tired. After Real in Euroleague, we had days off, and two nice practice sessions. The last one was the best this season by the way. We have to accept this loss and stay together. We don’t need to find a person to blame. We have to be united.
PARMA head coach Kazys Maskvytis:
I’m glad we won tonight. Last weeks we’ve been playing well, but losing in the last moments to strong teams like Khimki or UNICS. Congrats to my players and the fans. We deserved this one, we managed to do as planned. We controlled the game, it’s a shame though that we losted a track a bit in the end, could’ve finished with more confidence. That was our idea to play intense and aggressive basketball, because Zenit outplay us in athleticism, but the lack the snipers.
Next
Zenit: December 9 vs Khimki
PARMA: December 8 vs CSKA
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