Zenit-2 loses to CSKA-2 at home
Zenit-2 was defeated by Moscow’s CSKA in the 22nd round of the FONBET Super League regular season. The game ended with a score of 70:92 in favor of the opponent.
With Dmitry Rodionov, Georgy Omelnitsky, and Zakhar Romashov absent, as they are currently participating in the Russian Basketball Championship 3x3, the roster for the match against the Moscow team included youth squad players Anton Suikonen and Timofey Vashchenko. At the same time, Zenit-2’s starting five looked as follows: Dmitry Chikishev, Egor Evstafiev, Ilya Krivykh, Ilyas Abdul, and Mikhail Dulkay.
The opening of the game was completely dominated by the visitors. A 0:10 run by the CSKA-2 immediately threw Zenit-2 off balance and forced Oliver Popović to call a timeout. After the coach’s adjustments, the St. Petersburg team managed a couple of successful attacks — with Prokopenko and Samukhin scoring after entering the court. However, the overall trend persisted. CSKA-2 controlled the game and entered the first break as a confident leader — 13:23.
At the start of the next quarter, a spectacular exchange of shots took place: for the three-pointers by CSKA-2’s Gleb Bukhalov and Sergey Novikov, the St. Petersburg team responded with a long-range basket by big man Ivan Kasyanov and his successful drive. Although the scoreboard did not worsen for the guests, they called a timeout. The Moscow team then regained control and continued to extend their lead. Meanwhile, Zenit-2 struggled with scoring and could not provide adequate competition. At one point, the gap reached over 20 points, though the St. Petersburg side was successful from long range. By halftime, the score was 34:52.
After returning from the locker room, Zenit-2’s defensive performance still left much to be desired. The quarter progressed at a relatively even pace, but again went to the opponent. Before the final quarter, CSKA-2 led by a margin that was extremely difficult to overcome — 55:77.
In the final ten minutes, the CSKA-2 calmly brought the game to a favorable conclusion. Midway through the quarter, Zenit-2 made a run and reduced the deficit to 15 points — Porotnikov and Dulkay scored from beyond the arc, and Kasyanov scored inside. However, Popović’s team could not build on this momentum. The final score was 70:92.
The most productive players for the St. Petersburg side were Ivan Prokopenko (13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists), Ivan Kasyanov (12 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals), and Artem Khodorich (10 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 block).
Oliver Popović’s team will play their next match in St. Petersburg at the Basketball Academy (Severnaya Road, 12). The game against Tambov will take place on March 9th and start at 16:00. Admission for fans is free!
