Zenit defeated VEF in Riga, 82-73 (22-25, 19-17, 19-16, 22-15).
Top Scorers
VEF: Martins Meiers (31+10 reb), Janis Blums (17), Kristopher Richard (9+6 reb)
Zenit: Sergey Karasev (24), Kyle Landry (13+7 reb), Stefan Markovic (11+9 ast), Aaron White (10+10)
Turning Point
This game was extremely close right up until the 4th quarter. Five lead changes, 10 ties and a two-point lead for Zenit on the road, 60-58.
After dropping a 104-90 decision to Khimki a week earlier, Riga was looking for a statement win at home, but the visitors had other plans.
A 9-0 run to open the period put Zenit in control and the Russian club never looked back.
VEF never got closer than eight the rest of the way, wasting a career night from Martins Meiers (31 points and 10 rebounds).
With the 82-73 win, Zenit moves into 3rd place (12-3) ahead of idle Khimki. VEF remains in 6th, dropping to 7-7.
Stat
31 – Martins Meiers scored a career-high 31 points for VEF, shooting 12-19 from the field and 7-7 at the line. The 25-year-old Latvian center is now averaging 15.6 points per game, good for 11th in the League.
Quotes
VEF head coach Janis Gailitis:
– Both teams competed really hard today. But we had injuries, which is why the rotation wasn’t very big. Plus, we let Zenit get too many offensive rebounds. We’ll keep working on our mistakes.
Zenit head coach Vasily Karasev:
– We were very relaxed to start the game, plus we were missing several players to injuries. That had an effect on our game. We couldn’t pull away for a long time. In the second half, we brought in Janis Timma and finished strong, which resulted in the win.
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Up Next
VEF: February 23 vs. Nizhny Novgorod
Zenit: February 16 vs. CSKA
