Zenit U21 returns from Moscow with a victory over the regular season leader
The youth team of Zenit finished the calendar year with an away series of games against the leader of the Youth League, MBA-MAI-Junior. The latest round of the championship took place on December 24-25 in Moscow at the Basket Hall arena.
In the first game Roman Knyazev's wards secured a confident victory with a score of 62:78. After taking the first quarter with an advantage of "+11", the St. Petersburg team allowed the hosts to close the gap a bit in the next period. However, the key moment of the game came in the third quarter, where Zenit U21 players strengthened their positions and brought the game to a final win. The standout players for Zenit U21 in this match were Egor Evstafiev (16 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 1 steal) and Ilya Krivyh (12 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block).
So, MBA-MAI-Junior won the second game. The match was fiercely contested by both teams, but the victory, with a score of 78:68, went to the Moscow team. The top performers for Zenit U21 in the second game were Dmitry Chikishev (15 points, 6 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals) and Timofey Komissarov (14 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal).
German Muschinskiy, guard of Zenit U21:
It was a good, productive trip. The preparation for it was somewhat rushed because some of the guys were helping the U19 team, but everyone approached the games against MBA responsibly. MBA is currently in first place in the standings, so there was extra motivation to show that we are not worse, but even better. In the first game, we succeeded, we followed all the instructions, in the first half we slightly lost on the boards, but after the break, we corrected our mistakes and confidently secured the win. In the second game, the opponents also reviewed their mistakes, and thanks to that and a good shooting percentage, they built a “+10” point lead, which we tried to close throughout the game.
Roman Knyazev, head coach of Zenit U21:
Unfortunately, we couldn’t end the calendar year on a positive note. However, I can highlight that we can take away quite a bit of positivity from this trip. First, the fact that we are capable of defeating any opponent and there are no teams left that we haven't beaten. Second, the realization that most of our defeats were due to our own mistakes and lapses in concentration, rather than the superiority or tactical ideas of our opponents. In this area, we need to improve in the second half of the season and achieve stability. We need to solidify the quality of our play and not squander our opportunities. Taking this opportunity, I would like to thank my players and staff for their hard work and commitment, and I hope for the speedy recovery of the injured Alexander and Ivan. I also wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and a productive New Year!
The regular season of the VTB United Youth League will resume for our team on January 9 and 10 with an away matches against Samara-2. Both games will start at 12:00 St. Petersburg time. The broadcast of each meeting will be available on the League's website in the Zenit U21 game schedule.
