Zenit beat UNICS on the road – 93:80 (22:19, 25:21, 30:13, 27:16)
Top scorers
UNICS: Errick McCollum (21), Raymar Morgan (13 + 6 rebounds), Jamar Smith (12 + 6 rebounds + 6 assists).
Zenit: Alex Renfroe (25 + 6 assists), Colton Iverson (13), Anton Pushkov (11).
Story
UNICS and Zenit face trouble at the start of the season. Kazan at least had positive record (4-3) and were in play-off zone before the game apart from Saint Petersburg with 3-4 record holding 10th spot.
Evgeny Kolesnikov’s makes let UNICS have a perfect start (11:4) but Zenit didn’t let them gain huge lead. Guests were playing well and smoothly in the first half. 13 of 18 field goals were made after assists, they hit 14 of 19 2-pointers and 9 players scored at least once. Zenit took the lead in the first quarter (22:19), and Voronov, Renfroe and Trushkin’s long-range shots let Zenit take a 7-point lead (47:40).
The third quarter started with two Colton’s made shots and a three from Mateusz Ponitka – 7:0 run, 54:40. Good free throws by Errick McCollum and Raymar Morgan gave fans at Basket-hall a hope that their favourite team would come back but then Renfore hit 3 shots from behind the arc in one minute – 63:47. The most surprising fives were working for Zenit including russian one led by Anton Pushkov – 30:13 in the third and 77:53 before the final quarter.
UNICS tried to get back into the game in the last quarter. Kazan set a full-court pressure, stopped making defensive mistakes and found effective options on the offensive end – Kolesnikov and McCollum. The hosts made a 12:0 run (65:78).
Key moment
UNICS comeback was interrupted by Renfroe, who scored 6 points in a row (89:64). Zenit contitnued to struggle on the offensive end but another American guard’s run and solid lead let Zenit convert it to the W – 93:80. Zenit is now top-5 and outpaced UNICS by additional characteristics.
Stat
71 – points scored by Zenit’s bench players.
Hero
Alex Renfroe. The American hit 6 of 6 including 4 of 4 three-pointers, having 25 points and 6 assists. Most of his makes were in the second half and were key plays for Zenit.
Comments
UNICS head coach Dimitrios Priftis:
– Congratulations to Zenit, because they played well and hard. We had good moments in the beginning and in the end, when we were demoralized. We managed to come back from -20 and started play harder. But it’s not enough when you play on a such level.
Zenit played tough, physically and we couldn’t fight against this level of aggression. We lost the control over the game in the third and our rivals increased the differential and took the control. It was hard to come back after this.
Zenit’s head coach Joan Plaza:
– We are happy about this win. As I said right after the game, in previous games in Istanbul, Valencia and Vitoria we did good. Yes, we lost all three games, but our basketball was good. That proves that we are on the right way playing team basketball. Of course, you can’t let the opponent get back into the game after three-quarter leading and differential over 20 points. It shows that we still have to work more.
Next
UNICS: 2 December at home against CSKA
Zenit: 3 December at home against PARMA
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