St. Petersburg Zenit Academy makes its debut in the Winline Russian Championship 3x3
St. Petersburg Zenit Academy has completed its participation in the I and II Challenge tandems of the Winline Russian Basketball Championship 3x3. The games took place on January 28 and 30 in Moscow at the MEGA Belaya Dacha.
Based on the results of the two game days, the Blue-White-Sky Blues qualified for the first Master tandem and still retain a chance to advance to the second one via additional tie-breaking criteria. Everything you need to know about the St. Petersburg team’s debut is in our report.
As a reminder, each team in the Russian Championship 3x3 takes part in four Challenge tandems, within which qualification for the Master tandems is held. The champion is determined by the combined results of all eight tandems. To earn a spot in a Master tandem, a team must finish first or second in the group stage and win a decider game at the Challenge tandem. Teams that lose their crossover matches will also have a chance to qualify for the Master tandem based on additional criteria (win percentage, average scoring, etc.), but only if there are vacant spots remaining after wild cards have been allocated to the host teams of the tandems.
The Zenit squad for the double Challenge tandem included Zakhar Romashov, Artemiy Koshev, Georgy Omelnitsky, and Maxim Rudko. Head coach — Sergey Sylko.
On January 28, St. Petersburg Zenit Academy defeated ART (18:14) and Severny (21:10), finishing first in Group C, which earned the team a place in the decider game. However, in the decisive match the Blue-White-Sky Blues lost to Millennium (16:21). Only the next day, after all games of the I Challenge tandem were completed, the St. Petersburg team qualified for the I Master tandem thanks to additional criteria (2 wins and 18.3 points per game).
The II Challenge tandem began with a loss for Zenit — on January 30, the St. Petersburg Zenit Academy fell to Moskovsky (8:21), but then bounced back against Bolshoy (21:13) and advanced to the decider from second place in Group A. In the battle for a Master spot, Sergey Sylko’s team faced Moscow’s ART, whom they had played two days earlier. Unfortunately, the St. Petersburg side again lost decider match (13:17). Now the Blue-White-Sky Blues must wait for the completion of all games of the II Challenge tandem, hoping to advance to the Master via additional criteria — 1 win and 14.0 points per game.
St. Petersburg Zenit Academy player Georgy Omelnitsky on the team’s tournament debut, tough decider games, and impressions of qualifying for the I Master tandem:
I think we performed quite well for a debut — we completed the minimum task and made it to the Master without proper team preparation. In the decider games, we lacked physical endurance and specific 3x3 experience. This game differs from 5x5 in the level of contact and constant movement. When fatigued, we made a lot of silly, unforced mistakes, which led to the defeats. Overall, the emotions are positive, since we managed to earn a place in the Master, but we understand that the team needs to put in a lot of work to perform successfully going forward.
Average statistics of the Zenit players over 6 games:
Zakhar Romashov — 5.7 points, 1.2 rebounds, 0.5 steals, 0.2 assists;
Artemiy Koshev — 4.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.7 steals;
Georgy Omelnitsky — 3.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.5 steals, 0.2 assists, 0.2 blocks;
Maksim Rudko — 2.8 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.0 steal, 0.7 assists, 0.3 blocks.
The dates for the next stages of the Winline Russian Basketball Championship 3x3 will be announced later.
