St. Petersburgās Zenit defeated Yekaterinburgās Uralmash at home, 92ā68 (23ā24, 19ā14, 25ā13, 25ā17).
Main Storyline
Both teams started the match aggressively. However, there was no clear favorite in this back-and-forth battle. The lead changed hands nine times in the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, the Ural team pulled ahead. They managed to maintain the lead for a long time, but the hosts still closed out the first half on top. Aggressive defense and a series of fast breaks formed the basis of a 10-point run by the St. Petersburg team. Thanks to this run, Zenit went into halftime with a 42ā38 lead.
Decisive Moment
The third quarter proved to be the turning point of the game. The home team came out of halftime with a fighting spirit. Once again, aggressive defense was the cornerstone of their pressure. In six and a half minutes, Uralmash managed to score only 5 points. During that time, the St. Petersburg team turned their ā+4ā lead into ā+17āā60ā43.
They didnāt stop there. During the final 10 minutes, Zenitās lead surpassed the ā20+ā mark, allowing the home team to secure a decisive victory.
X-Factor
Defense was the key to the home teamās success in this game. Starting in the second quarter, the St. Petersburg team held their opponents to just 44 points over 30 minutes of play.
Interesting Fact
For the first time in its history in the VTB League, Uralmash lost its season opener. In each of the previous three seasons, the Ural team had started with a win.
Yekaterinburg committed 20 turnovers in this game. The teamās worst performance last season was 22 turnovers.
Postgame Conference
Zenit Head Coach DuÅ”ko IvanoviÄ:
– Congratulations to my players. They played a good game. Especially in defense, we had intensity, and everybody gave something for this first good victory. And thank you to our fans. Really, I can tell that they created a good atmosphere for us to go limit at this moment. We are playing good, but this is still not how we have to play. But itās an important victory for us.
Anton Yudin, Head Coach of Uralmash:
ā First of all, congratulations to Zenit on their victory. It was a game of two halves. We looked much better in the first half. In the second half, unfortunately, we couldnāt withstand the pressure Zenit put on us, especially on our smaller players. And, as often happens, when things stopped working on offense, that led to mistakes on defense.
Before the game, I had some concerns, and I warned the team that we would first and foremost have to withstand the pressure on the ball. Unfortunately, we didnāt get to face an opponent of Zenitās caliber in our preseason games, soāespecially for those playing in the VTB League for the first timeāthis is a good lesson and an indication of what weāll have to face when playing against the top four teams.
Top Performers
Zenit: Ike Iroegbu (17 points, 5 rebounds), Andrei Martyuk (13), Alex Poythress (12), Sergey Karasev (10)
Uralmash: Chris Clemons (15), David Efiayani (13), Kirill Popov (10)
Up next:
Zenit: October 4, away against UNICS
Uralmash: September 30, away against Avtodor.
