Zenit-2 won in the first preseason game with the score 63:59
Today, 25 August, Zenit-2 played a friendly match against Tambov in a closed mode. The game started at 18:00 St. Petersburg time in the Basketball Academy.
Elkhan Akhmedov, captain of the team, Pavel Zemskiy, Ilya Krivyh, Vladislav Samukhin and Ivan Prokopenko were in the starting five.
From the first seconds of the game, the teams showed equal play. Tambov took the jump ball, but the visitors first attack failed. After a successful interception, Pavel Zemskiy opened the scoring with a pass from Elkhan Akhmedov. At the start of the game, both teams had a low realisation rate. In the third minute, after another Tambov's miss, the home team went on the attack and earned two free throws, which Zemskiy converted. The forward decided to take the initiative and after a long passing game, he went to the basket and executed a powerful dunk. The score was 6:2, and all of the St. Petersburg team's points were credited to Pavel. After that, the Tambovians had a scoring stretch: Robert Pan scored first, then Serdar Anaev scored 2 points with a foul and converted a free throw. A minute later, Zenit answered back and the blue-whites led 8:7. The first three-pointer, which was long overdue, was scored by reserve team rookie Daniil Aksenov. The visitors responded with a +5 spurt and took the lead. Ivan Prokopenko neutralised the problem. First, the guard hit two free throws, and then he made a long shot. The score by the end of the first quarter was 18:16 in favour of the home team.
Aksenov scored the first points of the second ten minutes. At times, the teams had some good stretches and alternated the lead. After a timeout, taken by head coach Oliver Popovic, a long-range shootout began. The visitors responded to Akhmedov's three-pointer with an accurate shot by Filip Stojko. A few seconds later, Egor Evstafiev sent the ball from beyond the arc. Neither team wanted to give the initiative to the opponent. Less than the end of the quarter, the score remained tied at 33:33. The key moment occurred 5.8 seconds before the big break. Tambov earned a foul, and Pavel Zemskiy returned to the court for the break. The guests converted only one free kick, after which Zemskiy made a fastbreak run from his own basket to the other team's basket and gave his team the lead at the last second. The score after the first half was 35:34.
The third period can be remembered for missed opportunities. The opponents gradually exchanged accurate shots, but no one managed to take the lead. In the sixth minute, Krivyh scored the first three-pointer of the quarter, and then he converted a free throw. Aksenov followed with a shot from beyond the arc to bring Zenit's lead to +8. Before the final quarter, the scoreboard read 48:43.
We can say that in the first minutes of the final ten minutes, Zenit-2 secured the final result. Aksenov scored 2 points, Akhmedov scored 3, and after that the home team's lead was already +10. After a few good attacks, Tambov cut the lead. That forced Popovich to take a timeout. After the coach's instructions, Akhmedov immediately converted a three-pointer from Aksenov's pass. Despite the guests furious attempts to equalise, the blue-whites managed to hold on to their lead and bring the win to an end. The game ended 63:59, and Pavel Zemskiy was the most productive player of the game — 13 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.
