Zenit beat Zielona Gora on the road — 79:52 (21:13, 21:14, 21:15, 16:10).
The best scorers
Zielona Gora: Tony Meyer (11 + 5 rebounds), Dragan Apic (9 + 13 rebounds).
Zenit: Jordan Loyd (21), Jordan Mickey (15 + 5 rebounds), Sergey Karasev (11).
Game progress
For Zenit, the road win was very important: it allowed the St. Petersburg team not only to get close to UNICS, but also to break away from the main pursuers — Avtodor and CSKA. Therefore, Zenit immediately got down to business, stunning the hosts with scoring 3-pointers. Zenit’s first 12 points of the game was made by Jordan Loyd. Although the guests failed to make a double-digit lead already in the 1st quarter, they confidently controlled the game, and Jordan Mikey closed the opening 10 minutes with 5 points in a row – 21:13 Zenit lead.
🎯 @mrjloyd hits 4️⃣ straight threes in 1st quarter vs Zielona Gora! pic.twitter.com/enrQFknljt
— VTB League (@VTBUL) February 14, 2022
The 2nd quarter did not start in the best way for Xavi Pascual’s team. Tony Meyer reduced the gap to 3 points. Nevertheless, Zenit continued to play to the chosen tactics: three-point hits by Billy Baron and Dmitry Kulagin made the guests’ lead double-digit for the first time in the game. Jordan Loyd, who came out, continued to terrorize Gora’s defense, which could not be stopped without fouling.
The gap in the score was already 15 points – 42:27. In the current United League season, the teams managed to came back a lot, but Zenit did not allow their opponents to organize a comeback. A 6:0 run performed by Poythress, Mickey and Karasev at the start of the second half made the chances of Zelena Gura to return to the game illusory. Even though Jordan Loyd did not score points in the third quarter, Zenit continued to build up the gap thanks to the productive play of Karasev and Mickey. The final 10 minutes, which began with the St. Petersburg team lead, acquired a formality. Zenit easily held a comfortable lead until the final buzzer. This win became the 4th in a row for the St. Petersburg team, and now they are separated from the leading UNICS in the standings by only 1 win.
Hero
Jordan Loyd. One of Zenit leaders spent only 19 minutes on the floor, but it was enough to become the best player of the meeting in terms of performance (21 points) and efficiency (23 points). Zenit’s starting advantage is also largely due to Loyd and his 12 consecutive points in the first minutes of the match.
Numbers
52 points is Zenit’s best defensive result this season. The previous best was set by the St. Petersburg team in the November game against Enisey — 56 points.
Comments
Oliver Vidin, Zielona Gora Head Coach:
– Zenit played way better than us and deserved the win. In last two week we played seven games. That’s a lot. Zenit had better efficence from three point shots and from two’s. Permiter was for us a problem, we shoot only 15% today.
Xavi Pascual, Zenit Head Coach:
– I wish all the best to Zielona Góra in the cup. It was the game when we played seriously from the begining in offense and defense. We came to the game focused, and step by step, minute by minute we were playing better. This is way we got this important win. We have to go to Minsk with the same attitude.
What’s next
Zielona Gora: road game against Nizhny Novgorod on March 6
Zenit: road game versus Tsmoki-Minsk on February 17
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