Key things about Saturday’s the SuperCup Day 3 games.
Zenit gets the necessary difference and goes to the final
The fail with Loko put Zenit in an extremely uncomfortable position: in order to become the first in its group, the St. Petersburg team needed not just a win over Partizan, but also 12 points difference.
But the reigning League champion could not have good start of the game: Partizan score from the perimeter several times in a row and created a double–digit advantage already in the first quarter – 14:4. The St. Petersburg team returned quickly enough and Joe Thomasson even led his team to go ahead at the end of the quarter.
In the second quarter, the same trick was already pulled by the guests from Serbia. Zenit had been in the lead for a long time, but at the end of the first half the team lost pace, stopped getting open shots, but Partizan taking advantage of the situation got the lead before the halftime. During the third quarter, Partizan gradually increased the lead and brought it to 5 poins – 51:46. This moment became the turning point in the game: Zenit changed defense approach, tightly closed the rim and made a 10-0 run. At the start of the fourth quarter, the St. Petersburg team got the necessary 12-point lead, and 3 minutes before the end got even bigger lead – 79:60.
Partizan offence literally stopped: Kevin Punter could not score a single point for the entire game, Danilo Andusic did not score open shots and even James Nunnally, who had saved the Serbian team before, completely disappeared. It was in the 4th quarter that Partizan missed the chance for the final, but Zenit managed to keep the necessary difference and will continue to fight for gold medals.
Zenit leaders are not legionnaires
Russian players took the first roles in the winning game for St. Petersburg against the Serbian Euroleague participating team. Denis Zakharov became the best in terms of performance, scoring 16 points and adding 3 assists and 2 rebounds to them. Igor Volkhin scored 11 points and 6 rebounds, and Artem Klimenko successfully worked in his paint, who wrote 4 block shots.
Figure of the day
5 – Partizan could not score points for 5 minutes in the third quarter. Zenit made a 12-0 run and completely rewriting the scenario of the game.
UNICS still has a chance for the SuperCup medals
Loss from CSKA on the Day 1, the Kazan team almost lost their chances of reaching the finals, and Friday’s win of the Army team against Mega finally put an end UNICS title ambitions.
However, Velimir Perasovic team did not allow to relax and got the win in the SuperCup-2022 against Mega. The Serbian team went toe to toe with UNICS in the first 25 minutes and with Malcolm Cazalon help won the first half – 38:36.
But after the halftime, the Kazan team established their defense, allowing Mega to score only 11 points in the 3rd quarter. At the same time, UNICS began to get a lot in offence and questions about the winner were removed long before the final minutes of the game.
Louis Labeyrie got his forst double-double in the SuperCup-2022 – 12 points, 13 rebounds. Aleksandr Razumov reasoned the coach’s trust: the forward came out in the start, spent 25 minutes on the floor and became the second best scoring in the team with 13 points.
Daryl Macon broke Mega defense
But UNICS offensive leader was Daryl Macon. The guard showed the real performance: scored 22 points, made 4 three-pointers, gave 4 assists and got 3 rebounds.
Top 3 players of the Day
Daryl Macon finished the game against Mega with 22 points and helped the Kazan team in the right moment.
James Nunnally from Partizan tried in every possible way to save the Serbian team in the game with Zenit and got 18 points.
Denis Zakharov scored less than Nunnally, but his 16 points helped Zenit reach the SuperCup final.
SuperCup Day 3 Results
UNICS (Kazan) – Mega (Belgrade) – 78:69 (18-17, 18-21, 23-11, 19-20)
Zenit (Saint Petersburg) – Partizan (Belgrade) – 81:65 (23-22, 14-18, 21-13, 23-12)
Final day schedule
The 5th place game 14:00 Lokomotiv-Kuban – Mega
The 3rd place game 17:00 UNICS – Partizan
Final 19:30 Zenit – CSKA
