MBA changed the game course against Zenit at home, made a 20-point comeback and won the 13th game of the season – 76:75 OT (19:23, 11:23, 16:13, 21:8, 9:8).
Game progress
The opponents came to face-to-face game in neighboring places in the standings, Zenit had 4 more wins (16 against 12).
The first quarter was equal — Zenit finished it leading by 4. At the beginning of the second quarter, this slight advantage also decreased – 25:24. But immediately after that, the St. Petersburg team made a powerful 12:0 run with three-pointers. The guests lead during the first half reached 20 points – 46:30.
The third quarter was the same and did not suggested to have a tense ending. However, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, MBA snipers made 4 threes in a row (Daniil Kasatkin, Mark Tikhonenko and Evgeny Valiev scored). As a result, score difference almost melted — 61:58.
Key moment
But the hosts did not calm down. MBA fantastic run continued and soon Timofey Yakushin put his team ahead. The last seconds of the regulation was equal 67:67: first Thomas Heurtel missed hiss winning shot attempt by losing the ball and in the next possession Evgeny Valiev forgave his former team. The game turned into an overtime.
At the beginning of overtime, Sergey Karasev and Thomas Heurtel seriously complicated the hosts life — 72:67, but Valiev and Yakushin immediately equalized the score. The Moscow team was no longer going to give up the lead they had so hard got — after Yakushin miss, Ilya Platonov made a key offensive rebound, the ball returned to Timofey, and this time he did not miss — 75:72. The remaining seconds were enough for Zenit only for a three-pointer shot. MBA takes a super tough win, which is the 13th this season.
Key factor
The entire first half and third quarter, MBA had poor three-point shots percentage, but by the end of the game, the Moscow team finally caught the fire. 4 threes in the 4th quarter (the same as for the entire game before) and two long-range shots in overtime allowed Vasily Karasev’s team to turn the game around.
Fact
For the first time in the season, MBA is beating a team from the Top 3 — before that, the Moscow team lost in all face-to-face games to CSKA, UNICS and Zenit. At the same time, MBA made a record comeback this season — before that, PARMA-PARI beat Pari Nizhny Novgorod trailing by 19.
Leaders
MBA: Daniil Kasatkin (17 + 5 assists), Evgeny Valiev (16 + 7 rebounds), Mark Tikhonenko (12 + 5 rebounds), Timofey Yakushin (10 + 6 rebounds), Andrey Lopatin (10 + 7 rebounds)
Zenit: Sergey Karasev (24 + 6 rebounds), Thomas Heurtel (12 + 5 rebounds + 10 assists)
Next games
MBA: home game against Pari Nizhny Novgorod on January 19
Zenit: road game versus CSKA on January 19
