Dejan Radonjić‘s Zenit is a very defensive team – only once under this coach has they allowed an opponent to score more than 80 points (Uralmash made 81 in the intra-season cup). This game, too, started slowly: the first basket wasn’t seen until the 3rd minute – Luka Šamanič scored a lay-up. Patrick Miller quickly equalized, and from there, both teams scored mostly from the free throw line. The referees set the bar for contact very high – as in the episode when Šamanič stole the ball from Vsevolod Ishchenko, making the score 11:6 in Zenit’s favor, and sending Lokomotiv to a timeout. However, our team quickly adjusted to the situation, and on the opponent’s next attack, Šamanič was blocked while attempting a dunk, after which Anton Kvitkovskikh showed how to score from under the basket with heavy resistance.
Thanks to two 3-pointers from Johnny Juzang, Zenit took an 8-point lead, but then Jeremiah Martin came off the bench and changed the game. The Loko guard began putting on a masterclass in one-on-one play, which noticeably invigorated his teammates: before the end of the quarter, our team took the lead thanks, among other things, to a steal by Kirill Temirov, which led to 2+1 by Martin, and a steal by Moore, followed by Martin’s 3-pointer – 22:20.
Early in the 2nd quarter, Vladislav Yemchenko put Zenit ahead with a corner shot, but soon Lokomotiv made another steal (their 7th since the start of the game!), and Temirov dunked. Mike Moore‘s 3-pointer made it 27:23, the opposition responded with a 7:0 run, but we also had a scoring streak: Vince Hunter made 1 of 2 free throws, Martin tied it from under the basket, and then Alen Hadzibegovic scored spectacularly twice in a row to make it 34:30. Zenit tied the score again, and the lead began to change frequently. Trent Frazier answered Temirov‘s long-range shot with a 8-meter hit, but it was Martin who had the final say in the first half – 41:41 after a fine isolation play.
After the side switch, Lokomotiv gradually began to take control: Miller and Martin scored after a good runs, and Hunter made a steal followed by a dunk. Hadzibegovic scored 2 points from the paint, made a steal on the next play and passed to Temirov who made it 51:47. Martin continued to showcase the diversity of his offensive arsenal, then Hunter grabbed an offensive rebound and assisted to Kvitkovskikh. Zenit, however, stayed close, and in the final seconds of the 3rd quarter, they could’ve even taken the lead, but Frazier missed his second free throw, and the score remained 60:60.
Right at the start of the 4th quarter, Moore picked up an offensive foul – his 4th personal – and he joined Hunter on the bench, who had picked up his fourth foul a bit earlier. Regardless, Lokomotiv continued to play good defense, repeatedly forcing their opponents to make very difficult shots. But the Krasnodar team also had issues with shot accuracy, so no one scored for 4 minutes. Only then did Kvitkovskikh break the drought from the free throw line.
Hadzibegovic immediately made a steal and, despite two opponents hanging on his back, scored to make it 64:60. Returning to defense, Hadzibegovic blocked Šamanić‘s shot, allowing Miller to increase our lead by 2 more points. Only then, at the end of the 35th minute, did Zenit score its first points of the period – Frazier fired home a shot from about a meter short of the 3-point line. Kvitkovskikh responded with two free throws, Loko made a stop in defense, Martin broke to the hoop and passed to Hadzibegovic, who scored 2+1 to make it 73:63. Yemchenko hit a perimeter shot, but after Martin made an acrobatic layup on the next attack, the outcome of the game was no longer in doubt. Zenit still put up a fight, committing tactical fouls, but Loko held on to a 9-point lead until the final buzzer.
Zenit’s 10-game winning streak has been snapped, and Loko’s winning streak is now three games – the longest one in the league at the moment. We’re closing in on the Petersburg team in the standings, having one loss more than them. Our next game is on Wednesday in Samara, and then on Sunday, away at UNICS. The fun is just beginning! Go Loko!
