Zenit hits the hundred and crushes Samara on the road
The Blue-White-Sky Blues secured a confident away victory over Samara with a score of 64:113. The match against the Volga team took place today as part of the 4th round of the VTB United League regular season.
Georgy Zhbanov, Levi Randolph, Alex Poythress, Andrey Vorontsevich and Vladislav Emchenko took the court in Zenit’s starting five. The game against Samara was missed by Andre Roberson, Trent Frazier, Neno Dimitrijevic, and Sergey Karasev.
The first quarter was played at a high pace, maintained by both teams. Intense battles and physical clashes defined the early stage of the game. Both Samara and Zenit frequently attempted free throws and also showed a high shooting percentage from mid-range. Zenit was led by the duo of Andrey Martiuk and Levi Randolph, while Dmitry Cheburkin shone for the hosts, scoring 12 points in the opening period. The first quarter ended with a slight advantage for the visitors — 26:28.
By the second ten-minute period, Zenit took control of the game and gained a more noticeable lead. Highlights of the quarter included impressive dunks by Poythress and Emchenko, as well as a three-pointer by Vlad from the baseline after a missed free throw. The first half ended with a strong performance by Randolph, who scored 7 points in the final two minutes before the break. At halftime, Zenit led 36:62.
After returning from the locker room, the gap on the scoreboard became extremely large. Zemskiy scored his first points of the match on a put-back, Emchenko, Zhbanov, and Shcherbenev hit from beyond the arc, and Randolph was accurate from all positions — by the end of the game, the American guard became the top scorer on the court. The third quarter ended with the score at 53:93. In the final ten minutes, Zenit calmly brought the match to a victory, surpassing the hundred-point mark — 64:113.
The top performers for our team today were Levi Randolph (31 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist), Vladislav Emchenko (23 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal), and Andrey Martiuk (19 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal).
In the next round of the regular season, Aleksander Sekulic’s team will host Yekaterinburg’s Uralmash at the home court. The match will take place on October 20 at CSC Arena, starting at 19:30 St. Petersburg time. Tickets are available on the club’s official website.
