The blue-whites triumph in the first quarterfinal match of the Fonbet Super League
Zenit-2 started the Fonbet Super League playoffs with a confident victory over Novosibirsk on the home court. The key moment of the game was a run in the second quarter, and after the big break, the blue-whites continued to control the game, increasing their lead to "+22". Despite the visitors’ attempts to close the gap, Zenit-2 secured the win. More details about the first quarterfinal game.
Zenit-2's starting five: Pavel Zemskiy, Daniil Aksenov, Ivan Prokopenko, Egor Ryzhov, once again assisting the farm team, and Mikhail Dulkay, who has fully recovered from a hand injury. Artem Khodorich, who suffered an injury in the last regular-season game, avoided serious consequences and was included in today’s roster. Meanwhile, Maxim Karvanen was forced to miss the game against Novosibirsk.
The first quarter was an evenly matched battle. Both teams applied intense pressure, responding to each other’s attacks with accurate shots. The lead changed hands multiple times: for Zenit-2, the trio of Prokopenko-Zemskiy-Dulkay played confidently, while Ryzhov made powerful drives into the paint. Novosibirsk also had no standout leader — the visitors played as a team with a perfect balance of offense and defense. Due to this back-and-forth action, the lead changed seven times in the first quarter, with the score tied five more times. The result after the first ten minutes was 19:19.
After a short break, both teams faced serious scoring difficulties. For several minutes, the hoops seemed cursed. Novosibirsk broke the ice first with a dunk by Alexander Semenyuk, while the hosts continued to struggle. A timeout by Oliver Popovic helped shake up the blue-whites, and Aksenov finally scored from mid-range. The game remained tense, attack after attack, but Daniil became the key figure in this stretch. With the score at 32:32, the Zenit-2 guard took the initiative, hitting four consecutive three-pointers and making a free throw. At one moment, the St. Petersburg team led by "+13", but the teams went into halftime with a score of 49:38 in favor of Zenit-2.
A powerful run in the previous stretch allowed the hosts to control the game in the second half. Novosibirsk, needing to catch up, made too many misses, while Zenit-2 steadily increased their advantage. Every player in the starting five contributed: Dulkay scored with a hook shot, Prokopenko and Ryzhov were accurate from the free-throw line, Aksenov drove to the basket, and Zemskiy finished with a spectacular dunk. The lead reached 22 points, but then either the visitors stepped up, or a sense of comfort from the large lead played a trick on Zenit-2, and Novosibirsk began to cut the deficit. Balashov and Makeev hit from beyond the arc, while Kirdyachkin and White confidently scored from close range. Towards the end of the quarter, the visitors' surge was somewhat halted — 72:57 before the final quarter.
It seemed that Zenit-2 had everything under control. The St. Petersburg team managed to draw fouls, restrain the Siberians' offense, and return to "+18". However, Novosibirsk was not ready to give up. Andrey Yendropov's squad went on a 10:0 run, reducing the gap on the scoreboard to just 8 points by the middle of the final ten minutes. But that was as far as they got. Despite all the visitors’ attempts, the clutch moments belonged to the St. Petersburg team. The final score was 91:76.
The top scorers for Zenit-2 today were Ivan Prokopenko (20 points + 3 assists + 2 rebounds), Daniil Aksenov (18 points + 7 assists + 6 rebounds + 1 steal), Egor Ryzhov (18 points + 6 rebounds + 3 steals + 2 blocks), Mikhail Dulkay (10 points + 13 rebounds + 3 steals + 1 assist + 1 block), Pavel Zemskiy (8 points + 13 rebounds + 3 assists + 2 blocks + 1 steal) and Artem Khodorich (8 points + 1 rebound).
The second game of the quarterfinal series will again take place at the Zenit Basketball Academy (Severnaya Road, 12). The match will be held this Wednesday, April 2, starting at 18:00 St. Petersburg time, with free entry. The broadcast will be available on the Russian Basketball Federation website.
