Zenit starts new tournament with an away victory
The Blue-White-Sky Blues team secured an away win over Uralmash with a score of 63:92. Meeting with the Yekaterinburg team was the opening game of the Winline Basket Cup. Here’s a detailed report on Zenit’s first match of the group stage in the new tournament.
Sergey Karasev and Trent Frazier missed the game against the Ural team, while the starting five included Georgy Zhbanov, Levi Randolph, Alex Poythress, Neno Dimitrijevic and Andrey Vorontsevich.
The beginning for Zenit was, frankly, unsuccessful: during the first four minutes, none of the Blue-White-Sky Blues shots reached the target, and the team could not open the scoring. Moreover, after an unpleasant collision, Neno Dimitrijevic briefly left the court and was replaced by Vladislav Emchenko. Meanwhile, the hosts scored 7 points and took the lead. Zenit managed to break the ice after an Aleksander Sekulic timeout. The first points for the Petersburg team came from Georgy Zhbanov beyond the arc, after which the Blue-White-Sky Blues began rapidly closing the gap: Randolph and Vorontsevich also hit three-pointers, and Levi added a mid-range shot, putting his team ahead. From that moment, Zenit did not relinquish the lead, only extending it. The first ten minutes ended with a putback by Roberson — 17:28 in favor of Petersburg.
The next segment began with a precise two-pointer from Pavel Zemskiy, and Alexander Shcherbenev extended the team’s handicap to "+15". The second quarter was less intense and was a more balanced battle. Zenit successfully maintained the lead, with Levi Randolph emerging as the top performer by mid-game — the American guard scored 15 points in the first half and was the most productive player on the court. Andrey Martiuk also gained momentum, increasingly dominating the paint. At the end of the second quarter, the scoreboard showed 35:47.
Martiuk continued leading the team after the break. His combination with Neno brought 7 points at the start of the third quarter, while the Russian center gradually caught up to Randolph in the list of top scorers. Just when the pace seemed to slow, the duo of Zhbanov and Emchenko struck — their three-pointers extended the Blue-White-Sky Blues lead to 21 points. In the final minute, Roberson and Shcherbenev each made two free throws, and Uralmash responded with a single successful free throw from Timofey Gerasimov. The teams went into the last break with the score at 48:72.
In the final quarter, the winner was no longer in question — the margin on the scoreboard was too large. Zenit showed calm and fully controlled the ending: Emchenko and Shcherbenev hit confidently from distance, Roberson scored from above, and young center Ilya Krivykh, playing his first minutes of the day, justified the trust placed in him with a productive drive and an accurate free throw. Zenit’s first match in the Winline Basket Cup ended with a confident away victory of 63:92.
The best performers for Petersburg today were Levi Randolph (15 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal), Andrey Martiuk (14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block) and Andre Roberson (14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals).
Zenit will play its next Winline Basket Cup match on November 5 at the CSC Arena. In the second group stage game, Aleksander Sekulic’s team will face UNICS Kazan.
This Sunday, October 12, the Blue-White-Sky Blues will host Moscow’s CSKA. The match starts at 18:00 Petersburg time. Tickets are available on the club’s official website.
