Zenit beat Tsmoki-Minsk on the road — 90:74 (17:20, 23:12, 25:16, 25:26).
The best scorers
Tsmoki-Minsk: Yauheni Beliankou (21) Angelo Warner (15 + 7 rebounds), Darol Hernandez-Zinenko (9).
Zenit: Igor Volkhin (15), Alex Poythress (14 + 6 rebounds), Jordan Mickey (12 + 6 rebounds), Sergey Karasev (11 + 5 rebounds), Billy Baron (11).
Game progress
Zenit was the favorite in this game. But the hosts scored the first bucket of the game. They also led in the future for almost the entire starting 10 minutes. However, the Minsk team lead did not exceed more than 3 points. Tsmoki finished the 1st quarter of the game as a leaders. Yauheni Beliankou’s long–range sgot was decisive here – 20:17.
Only during the 2nd quarter the guests managed to seize the lead. Zenit’s key players were Jordan Loyd and Sergey Karasev. They scored 14 points and initiated 18:4 run. And due to this, Zenit went on the halftime break with 8 points lead – 40:32.
The 3rd quarter was decisive in the end. The guests continued to increase the lead with player’s class. The St. Petersburg bench also played an important role in this. 8 Zenit players scored points in the quarter at once. The 3rd quarter ended with a made shot by Jordan Mikey, and the lead became 17 points – 65:48.
In the previous game, Tsmoki managed to make a record comeback against Enisey. But Zenit did not allow serious relax in the crucial moments. The guests controlled the game and did not give the opponent even the slightest chance to seize the lead. As a result, the double-digit difference in the score was maintained throughout the final quarter of the game, and the St. Petersburg team achieved a well-deserved win. without.
Hero
Igor Volkhin became real joker of Xavi Pascual. In this game, the guard showed an excellent percentage of shots from the field (71% – 5 out of 7, 3-pointers – 4 out of 6), scored 15 points and became the best scorer in Zenit.
Numbers
5 – for Zenit, this win became the 5th in a row. The St. Petersburg team is in the 2nd place of the standings, continuing to chase UNICS.
Comments
Rostislav Vergun. Tsmoki-Minsk Head Coach:
— We met with a very organized and high-quality team, balanced in all lines. It was a good opportunity to test yourself against an opponent of this level. In some places we succeeded. But, probably, a long pause still affects, it’s hard to catch a high-quality rhythm. Plus, physically we are not one hundred percent ready to maintain the intensity, speed, pressure, aggressive defense that we would like to see. Of course, without showing your best basketball, it is difficult to count on a positive result in the game against Zenit.
Xavi Pascual, Zenit head Coach :
– Tsmoki is a team with an excellent coach, well prepared. I think they did a very good job and showed a very good game. As for our team, we started the game with a lot of open shots that we didn’t score. But after the halftime we improved in offense – that’s why we scored 50 points in the 2nd half. Now we have time to recover a little and prepare well for the next games.
What’s next
Tsmoki-Minsk: on the road versus UNICS on March 6.
Zenit: home game againstPARMA-PARIMATCH on March 6.
Photo 
