Zenit defeated CSKA at home — 81:68 (21:21, 21:14, 23:18, 16:15).
The best scorers
Zenit: Billy Baron (20), Jordan Loyd (19 + 5 rebounds + 5 assists + 5 steals), Jordan Mickey (11)
CSKA: Nikola Milutinov (16 + 8 rebounds), Alexey Shved (10 + 5 steals)
Game progress
After UNICS win over Nizhny, CSKA moved back to 2nd place, but in case of a win over Zenit, they would regain the leadership. However, the St. Petersburg team clearly had other plans. Zenit started with 2 consecutive 3-point shots by Jordan Loyd, and continued with the same double by Billy Baron. The starting hosts’ run clearly stunned CSKA – 16:8. And yet the Army team managed to quickly stabilize the game. CSKA began to actively play inside, activating Tornike Shengelia and Nikola Milutinov, which led to 11:0 run. At the end of the quarter, the Moscow team had already seized the lead, but Jordan Loyd did not allow the guests to end the quarter as a leaders — 21:21.
💣 @mrjloyd scored 11 PTS in 1st Q vs CSKA! pic.twitter.com/vx6AzoykLV
— VTB League (@VTBUL) January 17, 2022
The 2nd quarter started quite calmly. The hosts took the lead again, but CSKA constantly kept 2 and 3 points difference. Everything changed shortly before the halftime. The teams pushed the pace to the limit by organizing several quick offensive possesions. Zenit became luckier there: Dmitry Kulagin started the hosts’ run with 2 shots, and Sergey Karasev made the St. Petersburg team lead double—digit for the first time in the game – 40:30. By the end of the first half, Zenit led by 7 points.
After the halftime, Zenit decided to strike while the iron’s hot. CSKA offense in the first few minutes of the quarter finally broke down: the guests responded with only 2 shots made by Shengelia and Kurbanov to 12 points by the St. Petersburg team. With great difficulty, the Army team managed to close the perimeter, but Zenit found a recipe for this, actively provoking CSKA to foul. Having made 8 free throws in a row, Xavi Pascual’s team came to the decisive 4th quarter with a comfortable lead – 65:53.
The key moment
In the last quarter, CSKA decided to go all-in. The army’s bigmen – Bolomboy and Milutinov — exhausted Zenit’s opponents – Jordan Mickey and Alex Poythress, who played less productively, with continuous pressure. CSKA centers controlled defensive paint , and Bolomboy also shot corner 3-pointers — after Joel’s 3-point shot and Milutinov’s 2 points in the paint, the difference was reduced to 6 points. After Pothress’ 2 points response, Dimitris Itoudis took a timeout — there was only 1,5 minutes left until the end of the game. CSKA was forced to score 3-pointers quickly, but all 4 attempts were missed. Zenit’s key players, Billy Baron and Jordan Loyd, once again scored yheir shots. Zenit confidently brought the game to the win and equaled with CSKA in the standings.
Hero
Jordan Loyd. Zenit guard played his best game in the United League: 20 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds and 5 steals.
Numbers
5 steals is rather rare, but in this game two players made it – Alexey Shved and Jordan Loyd.
Comments
Xavi Pascual, Zenit Head Coach :
– Today we showed a great game, controlled the game both defensively and offensively. Today we faced one of the best teams in Europe, which gained momentum. We managed to control the course of the game, and we managed to compensate for the lack of players through proper rotation. The most important thing is that we came to the game with a crazy attitude, strong in spirit.
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA Head Coach:
– Congratulations to Zenit, the opponents played better today and deservedly won. They started the game very aggressively, but we were able to take the lead at 16-17 and finish the first quarter 21-21. At the same time, we played normal game, made only two turnovers, controlled our possessions. In the second quarter we were very bad, we had six turnovers and shot poorly. In total, in the three quarters that Zenit won with a total score of 60-47, we had 17 turnovers and shot 4 of 22 three-pointers. At the same time, we got good looks, taking advantage of the fact that the opponents were packing the paint, and should have benefited from this, because in previous games we shot great from distance. But, I repeat, 17 turnovers hurt us, we lost possessions, and even a couple of steals led to three-pointers made. This will be a good lesson for us. We will work to play better and we will play better.
What’s next
Zenit: road game versus Avtodor on January 23
CSKA: home game against Kalev on January 24
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