Zenit U21 defeats Loko in the second match
The youth team of the blue-whites played two away games against Lokomotiv Kuban-2 as part of the regular season of the VTB United Youth League. The matches against the "railroaders" took place on March 2 and 3 in Krasnodar.
The first game ended with a victory for the hosts, 100:73. Despite a strong start by the St. Petersburg team (18:25), Lokomotiv managed to seize the initiative in the second quarter and pulled away decisively by the end of the match. The best player for Zenit U21 in this game was center Mikhail Presnyakov, who recorded 21 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal.
Today, however, the Zenit players set a high pace from the start and led by 22 points at halftime. In the second half, Roman Knyazev's squad confidently controlled the game and secured a victory — 73:98. The top scorers for the blue-whites were guard Semen Burinskiy (21 points + 7 assists + 2 steals + 1 rebound) and Mikhail Presnyakov, who recorded a double-double for the second day in a row (17 points + 10 rebounds + 2 blocks + 1 steal).
Following these games, the St. Petersburg team holds 4th place in the standings with 25 wins.
Roman Knyazev, Zenit U21 head coach:
It is very frustrating to see the instability in our players' mental state. We show varying levels of play purely due to emotional issues. This hinders their development and prevents us from achieving consistency. Besides basketball-related aspects, we will be paying more attention to this factor.
Semen Burinskiy, Zenit U21 guard:
It turned out to be a completely different scenario, unlike the first game day. We tried to apply high pressure throughout the match and use the opponent's mistakes to our advantage.
The youth team will play its next matches on March 12 and 13 at home in St. Petersburg. Zenit U21 will face CSKA-Junior at the Basketball Academy (Severnaya Road, 12). Both games will start at 17:00 local time. Entry for fans is free. Live broadcasts of the games will be available on the league's website.
