Zenit lost to CSKA and will compete for bronze
Zenit started this game much better than the previous one. The Petersburgers were able to leave CSKA without points for almost two and a half minutes and forced the opposing coaching staff to ask for a timeout. After the break, Heurtel hit twice from downtown, he was supported by Morgan with long-range and short-range hits, and Hunter felt at ease under the ring at that time. All this led to the fact that at the end of the starting ten minutes, the blue-white-blues had 9 points of advantage.
In all previous matches of this series, such leadership meant that the winning team was no longer catching up with the opponent. However, the sixth game is a completely different story, and CSKA began to reduce the handicap in the second quarter... By the big break, 9 points of leadership for our team turned into 7 points behind.
Zenit did not start the second half in the best way, 1-4, but Hunter, Karasev and Frazier gave an 11-point breakthrough and returned the blue-whites leadership! In this quarter, our team was able to cope with the CSKA attack and take a single game segment from "+7". As a result, an equal score before the decisive quarter!
However, the red and blues started it better. At the end ware and Astapkovich immediately responded with their own effective actions in attack and put Zenit in a difficult position — 8 points behind 3 minutes before the end of the last quarter…
The guests did not give up and scored 8 points in a row in just a minute — thanks to the hits of Zakharov and Heurtel from behind the arc, as well as Frazier's accurate free throws. However, the ending in this game still remained with the hosts… They were able to score points at critical moments and provoke an offensive error from Heurtel. Unfortunately, this predetermined the outcome of the match, and with it the series — 91:97, we lose in the semifinals and wait for the opponent in the series for the third place.
