2019-20Regular SeasonRound 16
Zenit St Petersburg 58
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade 65
December 27, 2019 CET: 18:00
Local time: 20:00 BASKET HALL KAZAN

Brown, Baron lead Zvezda to road win

Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade confirmed its good momentum in by downing Zenit St Petersburg 58-65 on the road at Basket Hall Kazan, Russia on Friday. Zvezda improved to 7-9 in the standings after winning its fifth game in seven, while Zenit dropped to 4-12. Billy Baron led the winners with 26 points, the best total yet of his rookie Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season. Lorenzo Brown added 18 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists for Zvezda. Austin Hollins led Zenit with 14 points. Will Thomas added 11 for the hosts. Brown and Baron combined for 16 first-quarter points to give Zvezda a 16-20 lead after 10 minutes. Gustavo Ayon and Anton Ponkrashov led a 13-0 run which put Zenit way ahead, 27-20, midway through the second quarter. Baron and Brown kept pacing Zvezda, bringing the guests within 40-37 at halftime. Baron and James Gist allowed Zvezda to re-take the lead, 42-43, soon after the break. Baron boosted Zvezda's margin to 47-51 after 30 minutes, then Brown and Gist stepped up in crunch time to help the guests register an important road win.

Evgeny Voronov got Zenit going with a step-back three-pointer. Baron scored in penetration in a 0-6 Zvezda run highlighted by Brown's put-back slam. Andrew Albicy fed Colton Iverson for a dunk and struck from downtown but Baron kept the guests ahead, 8-9. Thomas took over with a dunk-and-foul but Branko Lazic sank a floater and Vladimir Stimac hit a jump hook for an 11-13 Zvezda lead. Brown showed great aggressiveness with a a couple of power baskets in the low post and Baron sank his second triple but Thomas and Hollins kept Zenit within 16-20 after 10 minutes. Ayon, Hollins and Mateusz Ponitka fueled a 13-0 run in which Ponkrashov had 5 points to give Zenit a 29-20 margin. Stimac rescued Zvezda with a layup and Brown added a put-back basket to keep the guests within 29-24. Gist hit a fadeaway jumper but Hollins did better with a four-point play, good for a 33-26 Zenit edge. Thomas splashed a turnaround jumper as Zvezda kept running its offense through Brown and Baron. Ponkrashov and Lazic traded three-pointers, then Baron and an unstoppable Brown brought Zvezda within 40-37 at halftime. Ayon finished a four-chance Zenit offense with a put-back slam soon after the break. Baron stepped up for the guests, getting help from Gist to put Zvezda ahead, 42-43, after a 0-6 run. The hosts found answers on offense through Ponitka but Baron and Filip Covic each hit from beyond the arc for a 44-49 Zvezda lead. Voronov answered from downtown, then Baron banked in a floater to fix the score at 47-51 after 30 minutes. Iverson hit a jump hook early in the fourth quarter which Brown erased with a driving layup for a 49-53 Zvezda lead with under 6 minutes left. Brown kept pacing Zvezda with a step-back jumper but Hollins singlehandedly brought Zenit within 54-55. Stimac scored down low and Gist added a layup-plus-foul that made it a six-point game, 54-60, with 2 minutes left. Thomas downed a quick three-pointer but Brown scored again and Baron added a big triple to seal the outcome down the stretch.

Pivotal performer

Baron kept Zvezda in the game for long stretches with his effectiveness on offense. He finished the game with 26 points on a near-perfect shooting performance: 4-for-4 two-pointers, 5-for-6 three-pointers and 3-for-4 free throws. He added 3 rebounds, an assist, a steal and 6 fouls drawn for a PIR of 34.

Game-changing moment

A three-pointer by Hollins brought Zenit within 54-55 until Brown took matters into his own hands. He found Stimac for an easy layup, then connected with Gist for a wild three-point play and finally added a second-chance layup that sealed the outcome, 57-62, in the next-to-last minute.

Stellar stat

Zvezda shot the ball better and dominated the boards, outrebounding Zenit by 28-44. Zvezda hit 7 of 14 three-point shots (50%) and limited Zenit to very poor shooting percentages (32.1% 2FG, 30% 3FG).

Did you notice?

Zvezda had never won in Russian soil in the top European competition. This is its first win after 13 consecutive EuroLeague road loss in Russia. Its last win in Russian came in the 2009-10 7DAYS EuroCup by downing Dynamo Moscow 86-88 on January 5, 2010.

Next game

In Round 17, Zvezda hosts FC Bayern Munich next Thursday, while Zenit visits AX Armani Exchange Milan on Friday in their first games of the new year.

Lorenzo Brown - Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade - EB19
Friday, December 27, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: CHRISTODOULOU, CHRISTOS; PASTUSIAK, PIOTR; HALLIKO, AARE
Attendance: 3020
By Quarter1234
Zenit St Petersburg1624711
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade20171414
End of Quarter1234
Zenit St Petersburg16404758
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade20375165
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 23:43 6 2/5   2/2 3 3 6 3     1 2 1 4 14
6 ALBICY, ANDREW 20:47 3 0/2 1/5     1 1 3   2       1  
7 PONKRASHOV, ANTON 15:21 8 1/2 2/4 0/2         1         1 5
9 HOLLINS, AUSTIN 22:10 14 1/1 3/8 3/3   1 1 1 1       4 3 11
10 THOMAS, WILL 30:45 11 2/4 1/5 4/5 1 2 3   2 1     1 6 13
12 RENFROE, ALEX 14:48   0/3       1 1 4 2         1 5
13 KHVOSTOV, DMITRY 5:10                   1     4   -5
14 PUSHKOV, ANTON 7:10     0/1           1   1   1 1 1
16 TRUSHKIN, VLADISLAV DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
18 VORONOV, EVGENY 17:31 6 0/3 2/5             1   1 3 1 -4
25 PONITKA, MATEUSZ 24:48 4 1/3 0/2 2/2 2 3 5 1   2 1   2 3 6
34 AYON, GUSTAVO 17:47 6 2/5   2/2 3 3 6 1 1 3 3   1 2 12
Team           2 3 5     1         4
Totals 200:00 58 9/28 9/30 13/16 11 17 28 13 8 11 6 3 17 23 62
        32.1% 30% 81.3%
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
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 KUZMIC, OGNJEN 8:49           2 2     2     2 1 -1
3 COVIC, FILIP 12:39 3 0/1 1/2     2 2 1 1 2         3
4 BROWN, LORENZO 27:43 18 9/16     4 5 9 6   2   2 3 2 21
7 DAVIDOVAC, DEJAN 14:41   0/1 0/2   1 2 3     3     2 1 -4
10 LAZIC, BRANKO 25:27 5 1/3 1/2   1 3 4   1 1     2 2 6
12 BARON, BILLY 27:22 26 4/4 5/6 3/4   3 3 1 1 1       6 34
13 DOBRIC, OGNJEN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 GIST, JAMES 20:37 7 3/5 0/1 1/1 2 3 5 2 1 3 1 1 3 2 8
21 JAGODIC-KURIDZA, MARKO 15:19   0/3 0/1   1 2 3       1 1 1 1 -1
22 JENKINS, CHARLES 12:51   0/2       1 1 1   1     4 1 -4
28 SIMANIC, BORISA 12:15   0/1     1   1 2     1   4   -1
91 STIMAC, VLADIMIR 22:17 6 3/8     3 5 8 1   2   2 2 1 5
Team           1 2 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 65 20/44 7/14 4/5 14 30 44 14 4 18 3 6 23 17 68
        45.5% 50% 80%
Head coach: SAKOTA, DRAGAN

Head Coaches

PLAZA, JOAN
Zenit St Petersburg
"We need to apologize to our fans who traveled here for 20 hours. They deserved better. We fought for the whole game against a team that always finds some solutions, signs new players. But we didn't play our basketball. We let two players of the opponent score 44 points, which is 75% of their total points. And we gave them too many presents. Even in the end when we could have tied the game, we committed a lot of silly mistakes. Our shooting percentage from beyond the arc was too bad; we didn't make a lot of mid-range shots; we didn't play our best game in the paint. It's true that we lost this game on offense, because letting a team like Crvena score just 65 points is good. But offensively we didn't do what we were supposed to."
SAKOTA, DRAGAN
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"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."

Players

BARON, BILLY
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"I just had to stay ready. My teammates believes 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."
BROWN, LORENZO
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"We are very happy. It was a hard-fought win and we had a great team effort tonight. We had some new guys here that played great and the rest of the guys came out and had a great effort tonight. We are just happy to get this win and take it back to Belgrade."
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