2019-20Regular SeasonRound 12
Zenit St Petersburg 75
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 70
December 06, 2019 CET: 18:00
Local time: 20:00 YUBILEYNY SPORTS PALACE

Zenit grabs first EuroLeague home win ever!

Zenit St Petersburg snapped a six-game losing streak and captured its first-ever Turkish Airlines EuroLeague home victory with a 75-70 decision over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne on Friday. Alex Renfroe collected 16 points and 8 assists as Zenit notched its first victory since October 30 to improve to 3-9. Gustavo Ayon added 14 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in 18 minutes and Mateusz Ponitka chipped in 11 points and 5 rebounds in the triumph. ASVEL dropped its fourth straight game to fall to 5-7 as no player scored in double figures for the visitors. Theo Maledon led the French side with 9 points and 5 assists. Five of his ASVEL teammates scored 8 points.

After ASVEL opened the game with a 0-5 lead, Zenit used the long ball to put together its first big push with Renfroe, Anton Ponkrashov and Pontika all hitting from outside in a 13-2 run to pull ahead 13-7. Colton Iverson extended the gap to 17-9 but Zenit failed to score the final 2:54 minutes of the first quarter and led just 17-15 after 10 minutes. Ismael Bako knotted the game 17-17 to start the second quarter with Ayon tallying the next 4 points at the other end for a 21-17 Zenit advantage. Andrew Albicy and Vladislav Trushkin both knocked down triples to keep the hosts ahead 27-24. Zenit's offense stalled for nearly 4 minutes while Edwin Jackson scored 6 points in a 0-12 run as ASVEL went up 27-36. Ayon was able to score the final 3 points of the second quarter to send the hosts into the break down just 30-36. Zenit started the second half with Ponitka throwing down a big dunk to pull within 36-38. The surge continued with Renfroe, Austin Hollins and Ponitka all hitting from long range and Ayon picking up a pair of baskets in a 16-3 run for a 52-43 lead. After a timeout, Bako stopped the drought and Livio Jean-Charles scored twice for ASVEL to trim the gap to 53-49 after 30 minutes. Maledon sparked ASVEL's comeback to start the fourth quarter, with 2 three-pointers and an assist on Rihards Lomasz's triple to pull the guests in front by 57-58. Tim Abromaitis came off the Zenit bench and nailed back-to-back three-pointers to push the hosts ahead 63-60. A Maledon three-point play gave ASVEL the lead back 64-65 only to see Renfroe hit 2 free throws and a floater in opening a 72-67 advantage. Renfroe added 2 more free throws for a 74-68 lead with 17 seconds left and that was enough to finish off the historic win.

Second-half control

Zenit struggled to take care of the ball in the first half with 7 turnovers but turned it over just 4 times in the final 20 minutes.

Keeping Jekiri in check

One of ASVEL's main weapons this season has been big man Tonye Jekiri, who came into the game averaging 10.8 points and 9.4 rebounds. But Zenit did not allow him to get going, finishing with just 8 points and 4 rebounds and a performance index rating of 4.

Telling numbers

Despite hitting just 11-of-20 free throws (55.0 percent), Zenit nailed 10-of-20 three-pointers (50.0 percent) and held ASVEL to just 23.8 percent from long range.

Next games

Zenit will look to keep it rolling as it travels to southern Germany to take on FC Bayern Munich on December 13. ASVEL now takes its four-game losing streak back home to face AX Armani Exchange Milan on December 13.

Alex Renfroe - Zenit St Petersburg - EB19
Friday, December 6, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: PEREZ, MIGUEL ANGEL; VYKLICKY, ROBERT; PAPAPETROU, PETROS
Attendance: 3242
By Quarter1234
Zenit St Petersburg17132322
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne15211321
End of Quarter1234
Zenit St Petersburg17305375
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne15364970
Zenit St Petersburg
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 IVERSON, COLTON 14:40 6 2/6   2/4   3 3     1 1   1 2 4
6 ALBICY, ANDREW 15:43 3 0/1 1/3 0/2   1 1 2   1     2 3 1
7 PONKRASHOV, ANTON 15:29 3 0/1 1/2   1 2 3 3             7
9 HOLLINS, AUSTIN 15:22 3 0/1 1/1     1 1 2 2   2   1   8
10 THOMAS, WILL 29:16 8 3/5 0/2 2/4   3 3 1   2     2 4 6
12 RENFROE, ALEX 24:18 16 3/5 2/3 4/4   2 2 8 1 3   1 1 3 22
13 KHVOSTOV, DMITRY DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 PUSHKOV, ANTON 2:52   0/1             1       2   -2
16 TRUSHKIN, VLADISLAV 16:43 3   1/2     3 3           2   3
21 ABROMAITIS, TIM 15:01 8 1/1 2/3     1 1           2 2 8
25 PONITKA, MATEUSZ 32:26 11 2/3 2/4 1/2   5 5 2 1 2     2 6 17
34 AYON, GUSTAVO 18:10 14 6/9   2/4 4 1 5 3 2 2     2 3 18
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 75 17/33 10/20 11/20 6 24 30 21 7 11 3 1 17 23 95
        51.5% 50% 55%
Head coach: PLAZA, JOAN
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 JACKSON, EDWIN 15:14 6 2/6 0/1 2/2           1   1 2 1 -2
2 TAYLOR, JORDAN 19:18 8 4/7 0/1   2   2 3   2   1 4   2
3 JEKIRI, TONYE 20:37 8 4/8 0/1   1 3 4 1   2   1 2 1 4
5 KAHUDI, CHARLES 23:56 3   0/2 3/4 1 2 3     1     4 4 2
6 MALEDON, THEO 19:52 9 1/4 2/5 1/1 1 1 2 5 1 2     4 2 7
9 LOMAZS, RIHARDS 14:20 3   1/2     1 1 3 1       1 3 9
11 GALLIOU, CHARLES DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 NOUA, AMINE 17:05 4 2/2 0/3     4 4     1     1   3
17 JEAN-CHARLES, LIVIO 27:06 8 3/6   2/2 4 5 9 3         1 2 18
19 DIOT, ANTOINE 11:23 5 1/2 1/3     1 1 3         1   5
21 BAKO, ISMAEL 9:20 8 3/4   2/2 1 1 2   1   1   1 2 12
23 LIGHTY, DAVID 21:49 8 2/5 1/3 1/1 1 4 5 1   1     2 2 8
Team           1 3 4     1         3
Totals 200:00 70 22/44 5/21 11/12 12 25 37 19 3 11 1 3 23 17 71
        50% 23.8% 91.7%
Head coach: MITROVIC, ZVEZDAN

Head Coaches

PLAZA, JOAN
Zenit St Petersburg
"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."
MITROVIC, ZVEZDAN
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"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."

Players

ABROMAITIS, TIM
Zenit St Petersburg
"Our defense in the second half was key. We came out with a lot more intensity in the third quarter. That allowed us to get the lead and we held on. We have good leaders and we have been waiting for this victory. It's big for us and we're going to celebrate a little bit. It's a little bit of a weight off us to get this first home win. We've had some good games at home but they just haven't gone our way. We've been working hard and waiting for this kind of win. Hopefully it gives us some momentum and we keep winning."
RENFROE, ALEX
Zenit St Petersburg
"I'm happy we got a win. Our organization has been waiting on this; us players and coaches have been waiting on a win at home. We just thank our fans for being here. And we thank our families and each other for showing some grit and finally getting a win. We're excited about it."
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