Sergey Karasev: "We immediately stopped the opponent's run in the third quarter"

Zenit captain Sergey Karasev shared his emotions about the away victory over Pari Nizhny Novgorod (68:85) and highlighted the key moments that influenced the outcome of the game.

— First of all, I want to say thanks for the great atmosphere in the stands. There were a lot of people. It doesn’t matter whether you’re playing at home or away — when people come and watch, it’s really nice. As for the match, I want to say that it’s always very difficult to play against Nizhny, especially on their court. Probably all of the TOP-4 teams have faced challenges here. That’s why I think we had a pretty solid game. Yes, there were some mistakes, some flaws, but overall, we played very much as a team. We defended well, and in the second half, we hit our three-pointers. There was a short stretch in the third quarter when Pari NN started to come back, but we immediately stopped that run and ultimately secured the win. I want to congratulate the entire team and coaching staff on a well-deserved victory.

— What were the key moments that stood out to you and led the team to victory?

— Apart from Buba (Evgeny Baburin) scoring 23 points, we managed to handle the rest of their leaders well and did a great job on rebounds. We also worked quite well as a team in defense, I’d say. Yes, there were some shortcomings, as I mentioned earlier. But overall, I think everyone should be satisfied with this win.