Zenit defeated Astana on the road – 101:67 (20:16, 23:24, 32:9, 26:18).
Game progress
Astana and Zenit have already lost tournament motivation by the last game of the regular season. The Russian team had a 19-game winning streak. The guests immediately showed intention to win another one, allowing the opponent to score only 4 points in 7 minutes and taking a 12-point lead. The hosts pulled up at the end of the quarter, and won the second even with a minimal difference with T.J. Starks performance – 43:40.
Key moment
The third quarter was key, with Vince Hunter scoring 12 points. Zenit skillfully held off the Kazakh team in defense, and the center was supported by Alexey Shved, Sergey Karasev and Denis Zakharov. The Russian players’ long-range shots eliminated the question about the winner before last quarter – 75:49.
X-factor
Vince Hunter, who is scoring less than 10 points per game, made his average in the third quarter and played key role.
Facts
Zenit has 20 wins in a row. During the regular season, only CSKA managed to achieve such a result in the 2022/23 season, when the Moscow team had a 24-0 start.
Zenit finished the regular season as the best visiting team – 20 wins and 2 losses.
The rivalry history is now 18-5, Zenit leads. The last 9 games were won by the St. Petersburg team.
Leaders
Astana: T.J. Starks (30)
Zenit: Vince Hunter (19 + 5 rebounds), Alex Poythress (13 + 8 rebounds), Alexey Shved (12 + 10 assists), Andrey Vorontsevich (12 + 5 assists), Aleksandr Scherbenev (11).
What’s next
Zenit: April 22 with the winner of Play-In Game #3.
