Sergey Karasev: "Zhora will probably have to treat us until the end of the season"

Zenit captain Sergey Karasev shared his emotions after a hard-fought victory over Lokomotiv Kuban (89:92) and provided a detailed breakdown of the game.

— First of all, I’d like to congratulate all the girls, mothers, daughters and sisters on International Women’s Day. Regarding the match, our first quarter was very unfortunate. We didn’t stick to the game plan that we had been preparing for a long time. They outran us in the first quarter and were much stronger physically. Maybe those games against Samara and Astana, which we played after the break, took their toll, and in the first quarter, we somewhat lost control of the game. But I have to give credit to the team and all the guys who stepped on the court. Because in the second quarter, we completely changed the game, made a comeback before halftime, and then took the lead in the third quarter. Probably, in those two and a half quarters after the first, we were much better and more confident. As for what happened at the end, when we were up by 12 points and Loko came back into the game, we have discussed this. We cannot afford such ups and downs if we want to achieve our goal by the end of the season. So we need to work on that. I’d like to congratulate St. Petersburg on this victory. And now, Zhora will probably have to treat us until the end of the season.

— Did the last play unfold the way it was planned?

— I can't reveal all the details, but we definitely weren’t setting up Zhora for the final shot (laughs). But it turned out to be something close to what we had in mind.