Zenit defeats Avtodor at home — 92:71 (18:21, 26:19, 27:12, 21:19).
The best scorers
Zenit: Trey Tompkins (14 + 6 rebounds), Thomas Heurtel (12 + 10 assists), Sergey Toropov (11 + 5 rebounds)
Avtodor: Evgeniy Kolesnikov (15), Nikola Rebic (13 + 8 assists), Brandon Garrett (11), Nikita Mikhailovskii (11), Evgeniy Minchenko (10 + 5 rebounds)
Game progress
The teams came today’s game as neighbors in the standings — Avtodor was on the fifth place, Zenit was the sixth. Zenit started the game better. Xavi Pascual’s team led 11:4 after Richard Solomon and Sergey Karasev made shots. But such a bad start did not let Avtodor turn off from the game. Nikita Mikhailovskii led guests offense, Evgeniy Kolesnikov and Nikola Rebic helped him. The end of the quarter was completely left to the guests: 11 consecutive points from Rebic and Kolesnikov allowed Avtodor to led — 21:18.
The second quarter began without points scored. Zenit could not score a single point for almost three minutes. Avtodor, which gave a 19:4 run, at some point had 9 points lead – 27:18. But Zenit also found its hero – Igor Volkhin scored 7 points in a row. This allowed Zenit to slow down the Saratov team courage. And although Evgeniy Minchenko replied with his 7 points to Volkhin, Zenit leading after the first half – 44:40.
The key moment
The third quarter started with a stunning hosts 11:0 run, with Trey Tompkins scoring 9 points. Zenit’s minimal advantage immediately became a double-digit. The guests tried to make a comeback, but 4 points in one possession by Sergey Karasev finally made it clear that Zenit was not going to give Avtodor this game. After Caleb Homesley two-pointer at the end of the third quarter, the difference in the score reached 20 points for the first time. For the remaining time, Zenit only increased the lead, eventually winning a major vgame. The St. Petersburg team got hte second win of the season and overtakes Avtodor in the standings.
Hero
Thomas Heurtel. In the game against PARMA-PARI, the French guard gave out 1 out of 9 from the game, but against Avtodor he missed only twice. Ertel also made a big contribution to Zenit’s decisive run at the beginning of the third quarter — most of the points were scored from his assists.
Numbers
22 made shots in the paint against 11 from Avtodor largely helped the St. Petersburg team. Evgeniy Minchenko, who made 6 blocks in the last game, could not close the paint.
What’s next
Zenit: road game against Enisey on October 18
Avtodor: road game versus MINSK on October 17
