Zenit St. Petersburg defeated Kalev Tallinn at home, 89-73 (22-18, 26-26, 21-15, 20-14).
Top Scorers
Zenit: Janis Timma (19), Sergey Karasev (14), Pavel Sergeev (14), Aaron White (11 + 14 rebounds), Anton Pushkov (10 + 6 rebounds), Stefan Markovic (3 + 9 assists)
Kalev: Mickell Gladness (15 + 7 rebounds), Demonte Harper (12), Vitali Liutych (12), Rain Veideman (10), Mark Tollefsen (10)
Turning Point
Kalev never led after the 2:52 mark in the 1st quarter, but kept the score close in the first half, trailing by just four at halftime.
A ‘3’ from Veideman cut the deficit to three early in the 3rd quarter, while several defensive stops gave Kalev chances to tie or go in front.
But the offense couldn’t deliver, turning the ball over on three consecutive possessions.
Zenit didn’t pull away immediately, but did go into the 4th quarter with a sizable 10-point lead (69-59), going on to win easily.
Stat
22-14 – both teams attempted 26 free throws, but Zenit converted 22 to Kalev’s 14. A better night at the line for the Estonians could have made for a much more competitive finish.
Quotes
Zenit head coach Vasily Karasev:
– We warned the players that if they didn’t give 100% from the opening minutes, there would be issues. That’s what happened in the first half. We made some mistakes on defense and had some miscommunications. Given that we couldn’t hit wide-open shots and our opponent did, there were bound to be problems. After halftime, we started playing defense and only gave up 29 points in the second half. That helped us get a good result.
Kalev head coach Alar Varrak:
– This was a very tough game. In the second half, Zenit got the game under control and began building its lead. In the final 3-4 minutes, we didn’t have any chance. We played okay, but after Harper got in foul trouble, and Mark Tollefsen picked up an injury, it was too difficult for us to put up a fight.
Up Next
Zenit: October 23 at Avtodor
Kalev: October 23 at Tsmoki-Minsk
Snapshot
