Zenit loses to Enisey on the road in the toughest match
Due to a large number of injured players, Zenit started today’s game with a shortened roster — only 10 players. From the first minutes on the court at the Arena Sever were Trent Frazier, Sergey Karasev, Andrey Martiuk, Andrey Vorontsevich, and Vladislav Emchenko. The coaching staff also had Alexander Shcherbenev, Dmitry Uzinskiy, Pavel Zemskiy, Ilya Krivykh, and Mikhail Dulkay available, who started the game on the bench.
In the opening minutes, the teams exchanged scoring runs: for Evdokimov and Dolinin’s two-pointers, the St. Petersburg players responded with baskets from Frazier and Martiuk. However, Enisey managed to seize the initiative and build a lead, which reached 9 points by the end of the first quarter. Despite Zenit’s attempts to reduce the deficit, the advantage remained with the Siberians, with Mikhail Vedishchev closing the quarter with an accurate mid-range shot — 23:14 in favor of Enisey.
In the second quarter, there was a choppy pace and aggressive defense on both sides. This clearly favored the home team, who not only maintained their advantage but even extended it several times to 13 points. Despite some successful drives by the Blue-White-Sky Blues, they struggled with shooting efficiency — both from the field and the free-throw line. By halftime, Zenit had made 70.6% of their two-pointers (12/17), but only 6.7% from three (1/15). Enisey had similar stats: 61.9% (13/21) from close range and 20% (2/10) from beyond the arc. Long-range shots were clearly not working for either team. The teams went into the locker room with a double-digit difference — 40:30.
After the break, Frazier, Emchenko, and Martiuk organized a powerful 12:2 run, and Zenit tied the score — 42:42. Finally, the Blue-White-Sky Blues started to unlock their three-point shooting. However, Enisey was not going to give up and increased the pace again, also improving their long-range accuracy. The Krasnoyarsk team quickly regained a "+7" lead. At this point, Aleksander Sekulic called a timeout, but the opponent continued to apply pressure, scoring a three-pointer by Sonko and a hook shot by Ryzhov — 56:44 with just over two minutes remaining in the quarter. In this difficult situation for Zenit, Vorontsevich, Emchenko, and Shcherbenev timely hit long-range shots — 57:53 heading into the final quarter.
At the start of the final period, the score gap remained: the Krasnoyarsk team successfully finished their attacks and kept their rivals at a distance. However, Zenit continued to make shots from beyond the arc — the very shots that had been unsuccessful at the beginning of the game now became a decisive factor. Until the very last second, Zenit fought for the win and looked for ways to break the opponent’s defense, but today the victory went to Enisey — 83:78.
The top scorers for the Blue-White-Sky Blues were Trent Frazier (26 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds), Vladislav Emchenko (17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block), and Andrey Vorontsevich (13 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists).
Zenit’s next game will be on November 5 against Kazan’s UNICS. The match will be part of the 2nd round of the group stage of the WINLINE Basket Cup. The game will take place at the CSC Arena in Saint Petersburg and will start at 19:00 local time. Tickets are on sale on the club’s website.
