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Crushing Astana at home

December 11, 2024
In the 18th round of the VTB United League regular season, Zenit St. Petersburg played against Astana from Kazakhstan. The game was played with a noticeable advantage for the home team and ended in a victory for the club from the Neva banks.


From the very first seconds, Zenit’s starting lineup featured team captain Sergey Karasev, Trent Frazier, Dwayne Bacon, Andrey Vorontsevich and Egor Ryzhov, who made his debut in the starting five.


After a brief scoring drought at the beginning of the game, both teams quickly picked up the pace, exchanging impressive and vivid plays. To Galin Smith's drives and a poster dunk, Zenit responded with Karasev’s textbook mid-range shot (counted as a two-pointer) and a follow-up dunk by Ryzhov. Three-pointers from Frazier and Spellman launched a scoring run for the blue-whites, and from that point on, the score difference only grew. The visitors attempted to respond, but Denis Zakharov stepped up, delivering a 2+1 play and a three-pointer — 26:15 by the end of the first quarter.


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In the second quarter, the teams alternated scoring runs. Zenit’s 14:0 run was countered by Astana’s 12:0 streak. This moment made it clear to Chavi Pascual's charges that they should not relax for a second. By halftime, the scoreboard at CSC Arena read 43:27 in favor of the home team.


The beginning of the second half closely mirrored the game’s opening minutes. Motivated by their mini-comeback in the previous quarter, the visitors fought evenly and applied significant pressure on Zenit’s defense. At this moment, Georgy Zhbanov caught fire. The guard finished alley-oops off Moon’s assists, broke through the opponent’s defense, delivered emphatic dunks and repeatedly intercepted the ball on Zenit’s side of the court. Additionally, Zenit’s high percentage of long-range shooting stood out — 45.5% by the end of the third period. Everyone who could shot from deep: Vorontsevich, Frazier and Zhbanov again. The blue-whites had their highest-scoring quarter in the game, leading by 25 points at the end of the third — 74:49.


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In the final ten minutes, Astana simply ran out of energy. The home team built a 37-point lead and finished the game with a well-deserved victory. Egor Ryzhov (11 points) and Denis Zakharov (17 points) set personal season-highs in scoring. Notably, nearly the entire final quarter featured an all-Russian lineup of players: Shcherbenev, Karasev, Ryzhov, Zakharov, and Vorontsevich, until Igor Volkhin replaced the latter. The final score of the game was 96:59.


Denis Zakharov (17 points + 4 rebounds + 3 assists + 1 steal), Omari Spellman (14 points + 1 rebound + 1 block), Trent Frazier (14 points + 4 assists + 3 rebounds) and Georgy Zhbanov (13 points + 7 rebounds + 2 assists + 1 steal + 1 block) delivered standout performances in today’s match.


This Sunday, December 15, Zenit will head to Krasnoyarsk for the 19th round of the VTB United League. The game against local team Enisey will start at 13:00 Saint Petersburg time.

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