By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After six straight losses in Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, Zenit St Petersburg bounced back with a 75-70 home win against ASVEL in Round 12.
Zenit improved to a 3-9 record but stayed at the bottom of the standings while ASVEL is in a somewhat better situation with two wins more (5-7).
Alex Renfroe led the winning charge with 16 points and eight assists while Gustavo Ayon followed with 14 and Mateusz Ponitka with 11 points.
ASVEL, on the other side, had no double-digit scorers but all 11 players which stepped on the court contributed led by Theo Maledon’s nine points. Livio Jean-Charles logged eight points and nine rebounds.
“Two and two is not four in sports”
Zenit coach Joan Plaza noted that his squad’s defense was the key and that their second half against ASVEL showed their real worth: “If you compare the first and second half, we had two faces. When we are able to control more our rhythm on defense, we can score some easy baskets. This is the best attitude we can have on defense. The team feels it is working well and maybe it deserves it more than other teams, but sports is not like science. Two and two is not four in sports. I hope this victory gives us our real spot (in the standings). Our real spot is not being last place and we are showing everybody that we are competitive and give our best.”
Zenit was ‘itching’ for a win in front of this clash as they have only two wins over the last ten games in all competitions and although they started the game strong (17-9), ASVEL quickly recovered and with a 12-3 run at the end of the first half grabbed a 36-30 lead.
Zenit put on a balanced offensive effort scoring from both inside the paint and from deep while the French side couldn’t find their outside shot. However, their paint presence was enough to overcome that.
Ayon, Renfroe and Ponitka took over for Zenit in the third quarter as they turned the tables and put them ahead 52-45 but ASVEL once again bounced back as the game went down to the wire.
ASVEL was up 65-64 at the five-minute mark but Renfroe sparked Zenit’s 6-0 run which ended up being crucial in the Russian squad’s winning effort.
Coach Zvezda Mitrovic, on the other hand, was happy with a lot of things but the three-point shooting was definitely not one of them: “Congrats to Zenit on the first home win. This gym was lucky for you guys. It was a close game. Maybe, in the end, you had more luck. I think we played good defense. We controlled the rebounding, but our shooting – especially from three – was terrible. But it’s nothing new for us. This is repeating game after game. We are really missing a lot of open shots. But in defense and rebounding, we played a good game”, he said.
Photo Credit: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague