Zenit defeats Avtodor on the road
Zenit beat Saratov’s Avtodor away, 62:75. The game was played as part of the 19th round of the VTB United League regular season.
Sergey Karasev, Noah Vonleh, and Georgy Zbanov missed the game against the Saratov side. In their absence, Zenit started with the following lineup: Andre Roberson, Trent Frazier, Andrey Martiuk, Levi Randolph, and Vladislav Emchenko.
Zenit took control of the game from the opening seconds. Early on, the Blue-White-Sky Blues were led by Randolph, who consistently converted his chances. Martiuk helped him by finding his teammate with accurate passes and by scoring himself. Avtodor, meanwhile, struggled with poor shooting, and by the middle of the quarter Frazier’s three-pointer allowed Zenit to build a double-digit lead. At that moment, the hosts regrouped just in time and went on an 8:0 run: Hadzibegovic was accurate from the free-throw line, while Kosko and Volkhin hit shots from beyond the arc. Recall that Igor Volkhin is playing for Avtodor this season on loan. The end of the quarter was tight and full of stoppages: Shcherbenev made a three, Samanic scored from the free-throw line, and the final points of the quarter were scored by Saratov guard Vitalius Pranauskis — 15:20 in favor of Zenit.
The second quarter continued in an even battle, with plenty of physical contact and low scoring. Both teams missed many shots, but Avtodor’s Pavel Zemskiy stood out — another Zenit player currently on loan in Saratov. Early in the quarter, the forward scored a pair of two-pointers. Despite the slow pace, Zenit continued to control the game. Everyone contributed offensively: Frazier, Emchenko, Randolph. Another three from Trent forced the home team’s coaching staff to call a timeout. After the break, however, Zenit maintained heavy pressure: Emchenko stole the ball and passed to Martiuk, and on the next possession Martiuk assisted Roberson, making it 22:35 — a "+13" lead, the largest margin at that point. Avtodor responded with a drive by Pranauskis, but Zenit’s advantage kept growing. A quarter that initially looked sluggish ended with a scoring burst from the visitors: Roberson finished above the rim, Randolph scored on drives, and Emchenko hit from long range. The teams went into halftime with Zenit leading 24:43.
After returning from the locker room, Zenit seemed to put the outcome beyond doubt, quickly stretching the lead to an overwhelming margin. A 14:5 run by Aleksander Sekulic’s team at the start of the half forced Avtodor to take another timeout. Nothing, however, could stop Zenit from pushing the lead beyond 30 points: Samanic and Uzinskiy hit three-pointers, while Shcherbenev and Randolph were successful on drives. Before the final quarter, the scoreboard at the Kristall arena read 40:70.
In the final ten minutes, however, everything changed dramatically. Zenit failed to convert their chances, while Avtodor took off: Pranauskis opened the quarter with a three, Hadzibegovic added four points, and Zemskiy was accurate from both short and long range. This turn of events forced Aleksander Sekulic to call a timeout, but immediately after it Hadzibegovic stole the ball and capped a 14:0 run by his team. In just over three minutes, the Saratov side cut the deficit to "–16". Martiuk finally ended Zenit’s scoring drought, but the overall trend continued: the visitors committed turnovers and missed shots, while Avtodor ran fast breaks. With 1 minute and 16 seconds left on the clock, the score was 62:73. Then Levi Randolph scored on a drive, and that basket proved to be the last scoring play of the game. Final score — 62:75 in favor of Zenit.
Zenit’s top scorers were Levi Randolph (18 points, 5 rebounds), Andrey Martiuk (11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal), Trent Frazier (11 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals), and Andre Roberson (11 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block).
The Blue-White-Sky Blues will play their next game on January 14 in Saint Petersburg at the CSC Arena. The match against Pari Nizhny Novgorod will tip off at 19:30 local time. Tickets are available on the club’s official website.
