Toolson, Zenit Get Back On Track

Zenit St. Petersburg defeated Nizhny Novgorod at home, 101-88 (28-17, 22-28, 24-25, 27-18).

Top Scorers
Zenit: Ryan Toolson (28), Stefan Markovic (6+9 ast), Janis Timma (7+8 reb+6 ast)

Nizhny Novgorod: Siim-Sander Vene (27), DeAndre Kane (22+6 reb+7 ast)

Turning Point
Zenit took a slender four-point lead into the 4th quarter, 74-70, and early in the period, it looked like this game would come down to the wire.

But St. Petersburg big man Kyle Landry had other ideas. After Ilya Popov cut Nizhny’s deficit to six, 80-74, with 7:48 remaining, Landry went on a personal 9-0 run to stretch Zenit’s lead to 15 and secure a win.

Stat
29 – Zenit recorded 29 assists, tying the season-high set by CSKA against St. Petersburg last week.

Impact
Vasily Karasev’s club lost big to CSKA last week, before losing in the Eurocup in mid-week. Today’s win against a much-improved Nizhny team was huge for Zenit’s momentum. The club also got Janis Timma back from injury and saw Trevor Mbakwe make his debut.

Star
Ryan Toolson. After scoring just seven in the loss to CSKA, Toolson scorched Nizhny for 28 points on 9-12 shooting (7-7 from the line).

Quotes
Zenit head coach Vasily Karasev:
– First of all, after two road losses and trouble with the roster, it was important to win at home today. It’s good that Timma is back and Mbakwe could play. Obviously, they aren’t in great condition right now. We had some ups and downs. We got off to a good start, then relaxed, then started playing well again. It’s nice that we played our signature style at times. But it’s too bad it was only in spots.

Nizhny Novgorod head coach Arturs Stalbergs:
– Before the game, we had to make changes to our strategy because of injuries and we had a poor start. We showed our toughness, came back, but ran out of steam at the very end. Against a team like Zenit, it’s tough to play with a weakened roster, but this game was good experience for us.

Up Next
Zenit: November 27 at Enisey
Nizhny Novgorod: Novemeber 20 at Khimki

Snapshot