Zenit U21 wins twice on the road

The youth team of Zenit successfully completed their away series of matches against MINSK-M, which took place on March 24 and 25.

The first game was mainly dominated by the St. Petersburg team. After losing the first quarter, Zenit U21 took the lead "+11" by halftime. In the second half, Roman Knyazev's team managed to increase their handicap and secured a confident win — 71:91. The most productive players for Zenit U21 were guards German Muschinskiy (16 points + 3 rebounds + 1 steal) and Pavel Logunov (15 points + 2 rebounds + 2 assists).

The second game was a real roller coaster. Both teams alternated between effective scoring runs, and the final minute of the match was intense: with tight defense, crucial steals and a missed two-point shot at the buzzer by the Minsk players. The result was a narrow victory for the blue-whites team with a score of 80:81. The standout player for Zenit U21 in this match was guard Alexander Porotnikov (19 points + 7 assists + 4 rebounds + 2 steals), whose free throw secured the win for the visitors.

Roman Knyazev, Zenit U21 head coach:

I'm pleased that we managed to secure two victories. Our players showed quality basketball, especially in the first game. In the second game, our opponent created quite a few problems with their aggressive defense, and we also had to adjust our defensive approach, which allowed us to stop 3-4 of their attacks. It's a great trend that we're handling crucial moments better, getting back into the game, and winning through our own efforts.

Ivan Kasyanov, Zenit U21 forward:

The games were very different. In the first, we followed all the coach's instructions, and that allowed us to win by a large margin. Overall, the game was quite calm for us. The second match also started under our control, and we confidently won the first half. But in the second half, something went wrong. MINSK-M hit their shots, and we didn’t. That allowed them to pull us into a tense finish, but we managed to finish with a minimal lead on our side. For the team, the result is good — two wins out of two. But the most important matches are still ahead.

In the next round, the blue-whites team will play their final away series of the United Youth League VTB regular season. Their opponents will be TSSP-Khimki-2. The game on March 28 will start at 17:30, and the one on March 29 will begin at 17:00 St. Petersburg time. You can watch each match on the League's website under Zenit U21's schedule.