2020-21Regular SeasonRound 8
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 53
Zenit St Petersburg 66
November 13, 2020 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 ASTROBALLE

Thomas leads Zenit to road win

Zenit St Petersburg registered its third win by downing LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 53-66 at the Astroballe on Friday. Zenit improved to 3-1 while ASVEL dropped to 1-5. Will Thomas led the winners with 14 points, and Alex Poythress added 12. Charles Kahudi led ASVEL with 14 points while David Lighty and Moustapha Fall each added 10. Zenit led 11-12 after 10 minutes and extended it to 21-28 at halftime. ASVEL managed to get within 53-56 with under 3 minutes left, but Zenit finished the game with a 0-10 run, cruising to a well-deserved win.

Fall got ASVEL going with a layup-plus-foul. Kevin Pangos answered with a floater and followed Mateusz Ponitka's fast break basket with a layup that gave Zenit its first lead, 5-6. Kahudi struck from downtown but Arturas Gudaitis kept the guests in charge. Lighty stepped up with a fast break layup but KC Rivers made Zenit regain the lead, 11-12, after 10 minutes. Poythress found his first points early in the second quarter for a 13-16 Zenit lead. Billy Baron downed a triple but Lighty dunked and Rihards Lomasz sank a jumper. Austin Hollins came off the bench and immediately delivered back-to-back jumpers and an alley-oop slam, boosting Zenit's margin to 19-26. Hollins kept pacing the guests and an off-balance layup by Paul Lacombe fixed the halftime score at 21-28. Antoine Diot downed a close jumper soon after the break. Gudaitis stepped up for Zenit but Fall and Lighty kept ASVEL within 28-32. Thomas scored down low but Kahudi did better with a three-pointer. Ponitka answered from beyond the arc, getting help from Gudaitis to give Zenit fresh air at 33-40. Thomas followed a layup with a turnaround jumper but Lomasz and Lighty gave ASVEL hope, 37-44, after 30 minutes. Lacombe downed a jumper early in the fourth quarter but Thomas and Poythress boosted their team's margin to 39-47. Lomasz swished a three-pointer and Fall added a jump hook to bring the hosts as close as 44-47. Poythress hit a jumper and Baron bettered Fall's close basket with a triple. Kahudi struck twice from beyond the arc but Thomas took over with a dunk-and-foul and Ponitka gave Zenit a 52-56 edge with 3 minutes left. Fall split free throws and Thomas downed a turnaround jumper that made it a five-point game, 53-58, before Pangos and Poythress sealed the outcome from the foul line.

Pivotal performer

Will Thomas played great defense down low and stepped up on offense in the second half, hitting all the shots Zenit needed to win the game. He finished with 14 points on 6-of-7 two-pointers, adding 7 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and 3 fouls drawn for a PIR of 24.

Game-changing moment

ASVEL managed to get within 53-56 near the end but Zenit did not panic. Thomas hit a critical turnaround jumper, igniting a final 0-10 run in which Alex Poythress had 4 points, including a one-handed slam. By the time Billy Baron capped this run with a three-pointer, everything was said and done already.

Stellar stat

Two-point shots made the difference in this low-scoring game. Zenit hit 19-of-28 shots inside the arc for its best two-point shooting percentage this season (67.9%). ASVEL only hit 16-of-39 two-point shots (41%) and picked up 19 turnovers. Zenit had 12 steals, a new club record in the EuroLeague.

Did you know?

ASVEL's 53 points are its worst scoring mark in the EuroLeague in over a decade, and its third worst in competition history. It previously scored 44 points against Efes Pilsen on November 12, 2003, and was limited to 52 against Zalgiris Kaunas on October 21, 2009.

Next game

Zenit hosts Khimki Moscow Region on Tuesday, November 17 at 18:00 CET. Six Zenit players - Rivers, Zubkov, Khvostov, Fridzon, Igor Volkhin and Anton Pushkov - played for Khimki in the past. Khimki also features three former Zenit players: Janis Timma, Sergey Karasev and Evgeny Voronov. A day later, on Wednesday, November 18, ASVEL visits ALBA Berlin at 20:00 CET.

Austin Hollins - Zenit St Petersburg - EB20
Friday, November 13, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: PEREZ, MIGUEL ANGEL; PANTHER, ANNE; PATERNICO, CARMELO
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne11101616
Zenit St Petersburg12161622
End of Quarter1234
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne11213753
Zenit St Petersburg12284466
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 FREEMAN, ALLERIK 13:17 2 1/3 0/2     1 1 1   1   1     -2
5 KAHUDI, CHARLES 30:00 14 1/5 4/7   3 2 5     1     1 1 11
6 LACOMBE, PAUL 12:38 5 2/3 0/1 1/3   2 2 1 2 4     4 4 2
8 DIOT, ANTOINE 21:50 2 1/2 0/1   2 1 3 5 1 4     4 4 5
9 LOMAZS, RIHARDS 21:37 8 2/3 1/1 1/3 1   1           2 3 7
10 FALL, MOUSTAPHA 29:14 10 4/6   2/3 2 5 7 2   4     3 4 13
12 NOUA, AMINE 3:18     0/1                       -1
13 HAYES, KEVARRIUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 BAKO, ISMAEL 8:56   0/3     1 1 2         1 1   -3
23 LIGHTY, DAVID 26:26 10 4/12 0/1 2/2   4 4 1   3     1 2 4
28 YABUSELE, GUERSCHON 27:12 2 1/2 0/2   1 5 6 1 1   1   4 1 5
32 STRAZEL, MATTHEW 5:32     0/1             1     2   -4
Team           3   3     1         2
Totals 200:00 53 16/39 5/17 6/11 13 21 34 11 4 19 1 2 22 19 39
        41% 29.4% 54.5%
Head coach: PARKER, TJ
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 19:04 1 0/1 0/1 1/2   1 1   3 1     1 1 1
4 PANGOS, KEVIN 29:53 4 1/2 0/5 2/4   4 4 4   7     2 3 -2
7 FRIDZON, VITALY 5:50         1   1   1       2    
9 HOLLINS, AUSTIN 12:05 8 3/4 0/2 2/2   1 1 1         3 1 5
10 THOMAS, WILL 27:50 14 6/7   2/3 3 4 7 2 1       1 3 24
12 BARON, BILLY 22:21 9   3/9         1 2       1 1 6
13 KHVOSTOV, DMITRY 5:46     0/1         2   1       2 2
14 PUSHKOV, ANTON DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 ZUBKOV, ANDREY 12:10           2 2     1     1    
22 POYTHRESS, ALEX 22:12 12 4/6 0/1 4/4 1 6 7   2 1 2 1 3 3 18
25 PONITKA, MATEUSZ 25:01 9 2/2 1/1 2/4 2 3 5 3 2 2     1 4 18
77 GUDAITIS, ARTURAS 17:48 9 3/6   3/5 1 1 2   1 2     4 4 5
Team           1 3 4     1         3
Totals 200:00 66 19/28 4/20 16/24 9 25 34 13 12 16 2 1 19 22 80
        67.9% 20% 66.7%
Head coach: PASCUAL, XAVI

Head Coaches

PARKER, TJ
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"We showed a different face defensively, it was much better. Again, offensively we had turnovers but we made it a one-possesion, two-possession game with 2 minutes left."
PASCUAL, XAVI
Zenit St Petersburg

"I think that some nights are like that. It was an ugly game on offense, but on defense we were solid and played a tough game. We controlled the situation all the time, and it is very important to come through in games like this and to take this kind of victory in this moment of the competition. Of course, I think it was clear that both teams have to improve. Both teams had more problems than others because of the pandemic and I think it is obvious on the court. We lost the rhythm of the game but we fought and deserved to win. I think we played a little bit better and this is why finally we won."

"We had problems in the first half, mainly with our defensive rebounds, but our second half was better because we controlled the rebounds better. We didn't play well on offense, with a lot of turnovers. In the second half, we controlled this point a little bit. Will Thomas is a very important player for us. Unfortunately, until now, he didn't have a great night on offense like today, but he is one player that will play good on offense in most games. He is always playing good defense, fighting for every possession, a very important player for us. Tonight, he was the key player. In the final minutes, we understood that we had to play for him and he understood how to play, how to score, how to create. He was 100% our key player today."

Players

PONITKA, MATEUSZ
Zenit St Petersburg
"We were expecting that ASVEL would be very physical, very strong and very aggressive, and that's what they did from the very beginning. OK, from the first minutes, you could tell it was not the most beautiful game but I am very proud of my team because if everything is going in, it is easy to win and everybody is happy, but with these ugly games, man, both teams cannot score and the percentages are not high. It is very important to win this kind of game, especially away, here in France, where it is always hard to play. We have a really good group of guys and the coaches are doing an amazing job with us. We are working hard in practice and are trying to take that from practices to games. For now, it is OK, we are going in the right direction but still, we have many things to improve, and we can be better."
THOMAS, WILL
Zenit St Petersburg
"We have been working to get wins on the road in the EuroLeague. We lost one at home against Olympiacos but we knew that if we came here and played hard, and execute our game plan, we could get the win."
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