Zenit U21 concludes regular season with a victory
The youth team of Zenit has wrapped up its home series against MBA-MAI-Junior. The games against the Moscow team, held on April 8 and 9 at the Basketball Academy court, marked the final matches of the 2024/25 VTB United Youth League regular season for the Saint Petersburg squad.
The first game didn’t go well for the blue-whites. The visitors confidently took the opening quarter with a lopsided score of 14:35, which largely determined the outcome of the game. In the second half, Roman Knyazev’s team tried to turn things around and managed to reduce the deficit, but couldn’t contend for the win — 67:78. The top performers for the home side were guard Alexander Porotnikov (17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists) and forward Ivan Vasiliev (16 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals).
In the second game, Zenit U21 looked far more confident. After an even battle in the first half, the Saint Petersburg team went on a strong run in the third quarter, securing a comfortable 20-point lead. MBA-MAI-Junior's comeback attempt was unsuccessful — blue-whites secured a solid 82:70 victory. Once again, Porotnikov led the way (21 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals). Egor Evstafiev (15 points, 5 assists, 2 steals) also stood out, having joined the youth squad for the second game along with Ilya Krivyh and Mikhail Dulkay.
As a result of the regular season, Zenit U21 finished in fourth place in the standings, with 33 wins and 15 losses. This performance gives the team home-court advantage in the quarterfinal series. The first round of the playoffs will be played in a best-of-three format, with Zenit’s opponent being PARMA-M from Perm.
Roman Knyazev, Zenit U21 head coach:
I want to thank the players for their dedication — for coming back into the game after an inexplicable collapse in the first match. It gave us belief in ourselves before the second meeting. And of course, it’s much easier to play when you feel the support of reinforcements from Zenit-2. For the first time, we played with a full lineup in the final game of the regular season. I hope this victory gives us confidence ahead of the playoffs.
Alexander Porotnikov, Zenit U21 guard:
In the first game, we played terribly in the first half. We only started showing our basketball in the second half, but by then it was too late to come back, even though we did cut the gap to 7 points. The second game we approached with maximum focus and energy for all 40 minutes, and that led to a confident win. We finished the regular season on a positive note — now we’re preparing for PARMA. In the playoffs, there’s no room for such mistakes, so each of us will approach it with full dedication and the right mindset.
The first quarterfinal match will take place on April 17 in Perm at the Pobeda sports complex. The return game will be held on April 20 in Saint Petersburg at the Basketball Academy (Severnaya Road, 12). If necessary, a decisive third game will also be held in Saint Petersburg — on April 21. Admission is free for all fans.
