Zenit beat Lokomotiv Kuban in the Game of the Week — 68:62 (10:14, 15:15, 30:5, 13:28).
The best scorers:
Lokomotiv Kuban: Jaylen Barford (22)
Zenit: Thomas Heurtel (16 + 7 assists), Thomas Wimbush (16 + 10 rebounds + 4 steals)
Game progress
Zenit has already seriously far behind from leaders in the standings, but at the same time played 2 games less than CSKA and UNICS. Therefore, the road win over Loko, another team from the Top 5, was of important for the St. Petersburg team.
However, the start of the game for Xavier Pascual team was not well. Zenit could not score in any way and the hosts took advantage of it: having tightly covered the leaders of Zenit, Loko started the game with a 10:2 run. However, Loko game was not resutlative also. The entire first quarter was equal with a large number of missed shots and in the last minute Dmitry Kulagin and Thomas Heurtel made the difference almost a minimal — 14:10.
At the beginning of the second 10 minutes, Richard Solomon reduced the score difference to 1 shot, but Loko continued to lead the game. The hosts score more from the game, while Zenitstruggled with that. A not very productive first half ended with 29:25, Lokomotiv Kuban led.
During the break, Zenit managed to change the offense. At the beginning of the second half, the hosts missed a real knockdown – Sergey Karasev and Thomas Heurtel made a 9:0 run. Loko immediately took a timeout, but it was already impossible to knock down the St. Petersburg team courage. Kulagin, Karasev, Heurtel, and then Trey Tompkins, who had bad first half, continued to beat the hosts defense.
Zenit gave out almost the best 10 minutes of the season – 1 minute before the end of the third quarter, the St. Petersburg team led by 29. Loko lost confidence and could not score a single shot. By the beginning of the final quarter, the St. Petersburg team led by 21 points.
The key moment
And yet, Loko managed to recover. The key player of the 4th quarter was Jaylen Barford. Together with Zakhar Vedishchev, they began to systematically score more, while Zenit magnificent offense was worse. After Anton Kvitkovskikh made shot, the situation seemed unreal for Zenit — 60:50. The motivated hosts made another run, and Barford was there again — 3 free-throws reduced Zenit lead to 3 points and in the next possession Barford equalized the score with the three-pointer – 61:61!
In the last minute, the chance for overtime remained. Dmitry Kulagin put Zenit ahead and Zakhar Vedishchev missed quick three-pointer. Trey Tompkins made a rebound and also scored a key shot in the next possession. 66:62 and 15 seconds before the end – Loko could only rely on a quick shots and fouls, but Barford three-pointer was out. Zenit still snatches the win in a very difficult game and continues to pursue the leaders.
Hero
Thomas Heurtel. Although Kulagin and Tompkins were key players of the ending, Zenit guard helped the team to make a desecive run in the third quarter.
Numbers
24 points was Zenit maximum lead and Loko was able to make a comeback.
What’s next
Lokomotiv Kuban: road game versus MINSK on November 20
Zenit: home game against MBA on November 21
