Baron, Crvena Zvezda edge Zenit

27/Dec/19 19:54

Crvena Zvezda grabbed a valuable victory on the road to end their 2019 EuroLeague run on a good note.

By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net

Crvena Zvezda turned last week’s win over Olympiacos into a streak by defeating Zenit St. Petersburg on the road 65-58 in Round 16 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.

Billy Baron played a key role for Zvezda in this victory and exited the game with a team-high performance of 26 points, three rebounds for a PIR of 34. This marks a career-high for the American guard in the EuroLeague (his previous being 17 points vs. Real Madrid early this season).

“I just had to stay ready. My teammates believe in me and Lorenzo (Brown) was absolutely huge tonight. He got me the ball and my teammates got me open, so it was a team effort. Basketball is a team game, and I am just grateful to my teammates. They believe in me”, Baron said to EuroLeague TV after the game.

Zenit persists, Zvezda ends with the victory

Zvezda controlled the game in the third period and managed to slip away with a 51-47 lead by the end. The hosts scored the first two points of the fourth period and the answer came at 35′ by Zvezda’s Lorenzo Brown (18 points). Zenit trimmed the deficit to one point, then Vladimir Stimac gave the visiting side a breather.

“At halftime, we talked about our pick-and-roll defense, that we allowed them too much this short roll and transfer the ball to the other side, so we corrected our defense and played much better. We rebounded and corrected turnovers, that was the key”, said coach Dragan Sakota.

Zenit had Austin Hollins tapping 14 points and Will Thomas posting 11 points, though didn’t manage to defend its homecourt in the end.

The aftermath:

Zvezda moves up to a 7-9 record, as the Russian side sinks to 4-12 after their last EuroLeague game for 2019.

Tags Crvena Zvezda zenit st. peterburg