UNICS beat Zenit in the Game of the Week and opening season game – 82:79 (22:23, 22:20, 23:18, 15:18).
The best scorers
Zenit: Igor Volkhin (18), Thomas Wimbush (13), Richard Solomon (10 + 6 rebounds), Trey Tompkins (7 + 6 rebounds).
UNICS: Jalen Reynolds (22), Nenad Dimitrijevic (17 + 9 assists), Anthony Brown (16 + 5 assists), Vince Hunter (12 + 6 rebounds), Louis Labeyrie (11 + 7 rebounds).
Game progress
Zenit started defending the title with the game against the third team of the 21/22 season. The Kazan team played the opening season game without key offensive player Daryl Macon and Andrey Vorontsevich. The losses did not prevent the guests from showing a well-balanced game with an emphasis on pressure in the paint. Jalen Reynolds, Louis Labeyrie and Vince Hunter scored two-pointers in the paint with a high percentage and helped the team to score in the first half. If the Kazan team managed to find players to replace the missing performers, then it became harder to defend Zenit snipers, even without Sergey Karasev.
The key player of the first two quarters unexpectedly became Igor Volkhin, who made 5 three-pointers and scored 18 points. The Kazan team Nenad Dimitrijevich ended the first 20 minutes of the game without a single miss. The Macedonian added at the end of the second quarter – a total of 12 points with 5 out of 5 from the game – not allowing the St. Petersburg team to keep the small lead. UNICS led before the halftime – 44:43.
UNICS started the third quarter with a 14:2 run. The Kazan team used Zenit features and closed Igor Volkhin. The run was inspired by Anthony Brown and Jalen Reynolds three-pointers, they scored twice.
Another 2.5 minutes before the end of the third quarter, UNICS led by 14 points, but then Zenit made a run. The St. Petersburg team became more active in the offense and were rewarded for aggression with free throws. 4 seconds before the buzzer, Georgiy Zhbanov fouled Thomas Wimbush and Velimir Perasovic added a bonus technical for talking with the referees. The American did not miss and the Kazan team was 6 points ahead – 61:67 before the fourth quarter.
In the first minutes of the fourth quarter, Zenit continued the pressure and completed what had been started. Andrey Zubkov and Caleb Homesley three-pointers allowed the team to move the game to the end – 73:75.
The key moment
The last minutes stretched – the teams often got fouled, the refs watched the replays twice for unsportsmanlike fouls. At the same time, the number of shots was minimum. Zenit was slowly getting closer to UNICS due to free-throws, but this time Homesley and Wimbush got only 1 out of 2. UNICS had 1 point lead and the unsportsmanlike foul on Dimitrijevic happened. After this, the guests had 4 point lead 10 seconds before the end.
Xavier Pascual set a combination for Homesley in a timeout, who shot a difficult three-point shot with almost no loss of time and got back the intrigue – 79:80. Labeyrie in response scored 2 free-throws. And here Zenit really lacked another timeout. Thomas Heurtel had to shoot a saving three without preparation – he missed.
Hero
Nenad Dimitrijevic. In Macon’s absence, Nenad had an increased load on his shoulders and he made through it. The point guard got UNICS 17 points with 6 of 11 from the game and also did not forget about passing – 9 assists. Dimitrijevic scored key points in the last seconds when he forced his opponent to commit an unsportsmanlike foul.
Numbers
12 – UNICS max lead in this game, and Zenit was one step away from a comeback.
Comments
Xavier Pascual, Zenit Head Coach:
– I want to congratulate UNICS on this win. It was a tough game and every team had a chance to win. We just stopped playing in the third quarter, acted very poorly on offense, scored only 4 points in the first quarter and as a result could come back. But we are only at the very beginning of the season, and we still have a lot to work on.
Velimir Perasovic, UNICS Head Coach:
– I congratulate my players on the win. Today we played against the best team of the League, against the champions. It is always difficult to win here in St. Petersburg. But we played very carefully, performed well defensively and always found ways to punish the opponent for mistakes. And it’s not easy. We deserved this win, but this is only the first step. But the reality is that you can’t relax, everyone can surprise.
What’s next
Zenit: road game against PARMA-PARI on October 8
UNICS: home game versus Enisey on October 9
