2020-21Regular SeasonRound 19
FC Bayern Munich 82
Zenit St Petersburg 80
January 13, 2021 CET: 19:30
Local time: 19:30 AUDI DOME

Bayern fights back to overcome Zenit

FC Bayern Munich moved into fourth place by holding off Zenit St Petersburg, 82-80, in a hard-fought battle on Wednesday night. Zenit dominated the first half, leading by as much as 27-37, but Bayern fought back after the break to take its first lead midway through the third quarter. The game was tied, 56-56, after three quarters, and Bayern edged a very competitive fourth quarter to take a big win. Wade Baldwin IV led Bayern with 17 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. Jalen Reynolds and Vladimir Lucic, the latter returning from injury, both scored 15 points, and DJ Seeley added 14. Arturas Gudaitis was dominant inside for Zenit, pairing 22 points with 6 rebounds. Kevin Pangos led the offense with 17 points and 5 assists. Mateusz Ponitka scored 14 and Andrey Zubkov added 11 in defeat. The victory lifted Bayern to 12-7, while Zenit dropped to 11-6.

Gudaitis landed the first blow with a put-back and Pangos added a long two. James Gist got Bayern moving, but Ponitka and Gudaitis scored inside for a 2-8 lead. Baldwin scored 5 consecutive points before Pangos scored from long-range and Gudaitis inside to keep Zenit ahead. KC Rivers added a triple to make it 9-16. Reynolds hit back with a dunk a mid-range jumper. Billy Baron struck from deep to finish the first quarter at 13-19. Baldwin opened the second quarter by scoring from long-range, but Zubkov scored a transition layup and Baron again converted from deep, making it 16-24. Reynolds and Gudaitis traded inside blows, before Paul Zipser’s jumper and Baldwin’s three-pointer brought Bayern closer. Ponitka and Zubkov protected Zenit’s lead. Zipser’s corner three pulled it back to 27-30. Pangos and Gudaitis bookended a 0-7 run to give Zenit a double-digit lead. Leon Radosevic, with a put-back, and Seeley, from beyond the arc, revived Bayern, but Ponitka’s three made it 32-40 at the break.

Seeley started the second half with a three-pointer, but Gudaitis threw down two dunks to keep Zenit in front despite Seeley’s long two. Another Seeley triple made it 44-45 and Reynolds dunked to give Bayern its first lead. Reynolds stayed hot to score inside for a 51-46 edge before Pangos weaved to the basket for Zenit’s first field goal in 5 minutes. Ponitka sent Zenit back in front from deep. After Nick Weiler-Babb responded likewise, Ponitka scored again and it was 56-56 after three quarters. Lucic and Ponitka traded blows early in the fourth before Reynolds dunked and Lucic came up with a triple and a slam for a 65-58 edge. Baron ended the 7-0 run with a deep two, but a three-point play from Gist kept Bayern safe. Zubkov sank a three-pointer and Pangos improvised a layup to make it 68-66, but Reynolds hit from mid-range. Hollins made a four-point play to tie the game at 70-70 with 4 minutes left. Zubkov forced his way to the basket to send Zenit in front, but Lucic made it 78-75 with 4 free throws heading into the last minute. Baldwin scored a tough jumper and Bayern’s defense held firm to take the win.

Pangos protects head-to-head advantage

Despite losing the game, Zenit had the consolation of holding on to the potential head-to-head tiebreaker between the teams. After winning by 4 points (79-75) when the teams met in Russia last month, the key moment on this occasion was a three-pointer from Kevin Pangos in the final seconds, ensuring his team only lost by 2.

Bayern finds rhythm after the break

Bayern struggled offensively in the opening minutes, making just 1 of its first 4 field goal attempts while committing 3 turnovers. But after being held to 32 points in the first half, Bayern gradually found its rhythm and scored 50 in the second half, helped by a solid 9-of-21 shooting (42.9%) from three-point range.

Tough defense provides the foundations

Conversely, Bayern really toughened up its defense immediately after the break, allowing Zenit only two field goals – both scored by Arturas Gudaitis – in the opening 7:30 of the third quarter. That allowed the home team to take its first lead of the night, laying the foundations for the eventual victory.

Milestone evening for Gist

Recent Bayern signing James Gist enjoyed a landmark occasion as he made his 250th appearance in the competition. Gist has played 14 games for Partizan Belgrade, 16 with Fenerbahce, 10 with Unicaja, 181 with Panathinaikos, 25 with Crvena Zvezda and now 4 with Bayern. He ranks joint 19th on the all-time appearance list alongside former Panathinaikos teammate Antonis Fotsis.

Next round

Both teams will be at home for Round 20 on Friday, January 15. Zenit will host Zalgiris Kaunas, while Bayern takes on Real Madrid.

Jalen Reynolds - FC Bayern Munich - EB20
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: LAMONICA, LUIGI; CORTES, CARLOS; KOWALSKI, MARCIN
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
FC Bayern Munich13192426
Zenit St Petersburg19211624
End of Quarter1234
FC Bayern Munich13325682
Zenit St Petersburg19405680
FC Bayern Munich
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 WEILER-BABB, NICK 24:00 3   1/2         3 1 1     2   3
1 GEORGE, JASON DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 BALDWIN IV, WADE 27:28 17 4/8 3/4     4 4 5 3       4 2 22
4 SEELEY, DENNIS 28:29 14 1/3 3/5 3/4       3   2     1 7 16
8 REYNOLDS, JALEN 24:14 15 7/11   1/3 1 5 6 1   2     2 4 16
11 LUCIC, VLADIMIR 28:56 15 3/5 1/5 6/6   4 4 2   3   1 5 4 10
12 FLACCADORI, DIEGO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
16 ZIPSER, PAUL 26:32 9 1/4 1/4 4/6   1 1 3 1       3 5 8
21 GIST, JAMES 19:06 5 2/3 0/1 1/1 1 1 2     1     5 1  
25 JOHNSON, JAJUAN 5:29   0/1     1   1   1       2   -1
43 RADOSEVIC, LEON 15:46 4 2/3     1 4 5     1         7
44 GRANT, SASHA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           1 4 5               5
Totals 200:00 82 20/38 9/21 15/20 5 23 28 17 6 10 0 1 24 23 86
        52.6% 42.9% 75%
Head coach: TRINCHIERI, ANDREA
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
Zenit St Petersburg
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 RIVERS, KC 11:36 3   1/2                   1   1
3 ZAKHAROV, DENIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4 PANGOS, KEVIN 32:20 17 4/10 2/7 3/3   1 1 6   1     2 5 15
7 FRIDZON, VITALY 11:39   0/1 0/2     2 2 2         3   -2
9 HOLLINS, AUSTIN 21:13 4 0/2 1/4 1/1   4 4 1 1       4 1 2
10 THOMAS, WILL 21:20   0/2 0/1   2 3 5   2 3       2 3
12 BARON, BILLY 16:57 8 1/1 2/4 0/1       1   3     3 1 1
14 PUSHKOV, ANTON 7:55 1     1/2 1 2 3           3 1 1
16 TRUSHKIN, VLADISLAV DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 ZUBKOV, ANDREY 18:57 11 3/3 1/3 2/3   2 2 1   1 1   1 2 12
25 PONITKA, MATEUSZ 26:15 14 4/5 2/4     6 6 3 1 2     4 3 18
77 GUDAITIS, ARTURAS 31:48 22 7/9   8/12 3 3 6           2 8 28
Team           1 2 3     3          
Totals 200:00 80 19/33 9/27 15/22 7 25 32 14 4 13 1 0 23 23 79
        57.6% 33.3% 68.2%
Head coach: PASCUAL, XAVI

Head Coaches

TRINCHIERI, ANDREA
FC Bayern Munich
"Very grimy, difficult, tough game. We managed to find a way. Pangos was playing an amazing game, he created us a lot of problems with the pick-and-roll, but we got back mentally in the game when we were able to put together a couple of good defenses on pick-and-rolls. This is a team win, but I’m very happy that Lucic is back. We missed him, but I believe this team played solid defense and it’s a great win, really a great win. I know my players are disappointed because they want to have the goal average, but this is the pain of the coach. I want them to enjoy and I deal with this. We can swallow some mistakes from going out of rhythm, but we made it."
PASCUAL, XAVI
Zenit St Petersburg
"Congratulations to Bayern for this win. It was a tough game. Both teams had chances to win. In the first 20 minutes, we had control. We were good on defense and even better on offense. We controlled the action and knew what we wanted to do. But KC Rivers was injured in the first half and we missed him. He’s an important player and we lost some size, energy and power without him. But still, we were fighting until the last moment and small details decided the game. Today we couldn’t win, but congratulations to my players for their effort. We were playing for the average in the last moment and finally we scored these 3 points. Today was the same kind of game as in St Petersburg, but with the opposite result."

Players

BALDWIN IV, WADE
FC Bayern Munich
"I owed it to my team. We go back to the Olympiacos game, a minute left, a crucial turnover by myself as a leader and point guard for this team. It was very important for me to bounce back, bring energy and defensive effort, and when the time came to be clutch, be that person they can rely on. I think I showed that today and everybody else stepped up. We’re so happy to have Lucer [Vladimir Lucic] back. Not playing for five or six weeks, he drops 15 points and helps us tremendously. We’re building and happy to win. We had to fight real hard. They’re a good team, but our effort was there, we kept chipping away and we came out successful."
REYNOLDS, JALEN
FC Bayern Munich
"We were locked down on the defensive end, knowing what this team brings – they have a team full of shooters and big guys in the paint, we just wanted to stay locked in. It’s one game at a time. Obviously, it starts in practice, we want to make sure we execute, stay together and keep this thing rolling."
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