Zenit-2 will host CSKA-2 on the home court
Today, March 6, Zenit’s farm team will face CSKA-2 Moscow in the 22nd round of the FONBET Super League regular season. The game will take place at the Blue-White-Sky Blues’ Basketball Academy court (Severnaya Road. 12) and will tip off at 16:00 St. Petersburg time. Admission is free!
February proved to be a challenging month for the team. After a confident home victory over Dynamo Ufa at the beginning of the month, Oliver Popović’s squad suffered four consecutive defeats — against Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Temp-SUMZ, and Kupol-Rodniki. This losing streak pushed the St. Petersburg side away from the top eight, and Zenit-2 currently sits in 9th place with a record of 9 wins and 12 losses. The team hopes that the break in the championship helped them reset and prepare for the decisive stretch of the season.
Their opponent, CSKA-2, who are also their neighbors in the standings, are currently 8th, with three fewer losses. Overall, the guests had a strong start to the calendar year. Coached by Oleg Bartunov, they secured several important wins against league leaders, reached the Russian Cup Final Four, and arrive in St. Petersburg after two confident home victories against Barnaul and Novosibirsk — teams that Zenit-2 failed to defeat.
The visitors’ leading scorer this season is 21-year-old guard Yaroslav Nikonov, who averages 17.5 points per game in the Super League. Meanwhile, their best rebounder is big man Kirill Petukhov, averaging 6.1 rebounds per game.
This will be the 14th head-to-head meeting between the teams, with CSKA-2 currently leading the series 8-5 over the Blue-White-Sky Blues.
Zenit-2 captain Artem Khodorich shared his thoughts ahead of the resumption of the regular season:
The break in the championship went well — we got a bit of rest and then continued working. I think the pause did us good. After the last few games we needed to reset and cool down a little. There’s only one thought in mind — always show good basketball and fight for victory in every game.
The live broadcast of the game will be available on the Russian Basketball Federation website.
