2018-19Top 16Round 2
Zenit St Petersburg 98
Cedevita Zagreb 84
January 09, 2019 CET: 18:00
Local time: 20:00 SIBUR ARENA

Karasev leads Zenit bombers to home win over Cedevita

Zenit St Petersburg used its prolific long-range arsenal to pick up its first Top 16 Group H victory by 98-84 over visiting Cedevita Zagreb on Wednesday. Sergey Karasev knocked down 5 of Zenit’s 14 three-pointers in scoring 19 points while Marko Simonovic hit 4 from deep for 18 points. Jalen Reynolds added 14 points and 9 rebounds, Evgeny Voronov had 13 points and Gal Mekel dished out 9 assists as Zenit moved to 1-1 in Group H. Cedevita dropped to 0-2 despite 18 points from Jacob Pullen. Justin Cobbs had 16 points, 4 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals while Edu Muric chipped in 13 points for Cedevita.

Three-pointers from Ivan Ramljak and Filip Kruslin gave Cedevita an early 4-8 lead. Codi Miller-McIntyre's triple and Jarrod Uthoff's basket evened the score at 17-17 before Vladislav Trushkin put the hosts up 20-19 from long range. Cedevita answered with the final 7 points, including Pullen's three-pointer at the buzzer, for a 20-26 lead after 10 minutes. Elgin Cook extended the Cedevita margin to 20-28 to start the second quarter but Zenit responded with a 14-2 run that Karasev started and ended from downtown for a 34-30 lead. Cedevita struck back with the next 5 points but Simonovic took control for Zenit with 10 points in 3 minutes for a 48-44 advantage at the break. Zenit did not score for the first 2 minutes after halftime as Cedevita tied 48-48. The Zenit bombers then took flight with Simonovic, Voronov and Philip Scrubb hitting three-balls within 61 seconds for a 61-48 lead. Cobbs helped Cedevita fight back into the game with 6 points and an assist on Cook's three-pointer at 65-61, but Zenit stayed ahead 70-62 after 30 minutes. Karasev opened the fourth quarter with 5 quick points en route to a new 13-point difference, 75-62. Karasev added a fifth three-pointer and Uthoff followed suit to make it 85-66 with 6 minutes to play. Pullen's triple helped Cedevita get within 85-71, but Reynolds threw down a pair of big dunks to help push the gap to 19 points again. Cedevita would not get closer than 14 points the rest of the way.

Game changing sequence

It was an eight-point lead for Zenit to start the fourth quarter and the hosts nailed 3 three-pointers in a 17-4 surge for an 85-66 advantage and never looked back.

Pivotal performer

Sergey Karasev scored 10 of his 19 points in the big surge to start the fourth quarter and he added 2 rebounds and 3 assists.

Telling numbers

Zenit dished out 29 assists while out-rebounding Cedevita 44 to 34, including 17 offensive boards.

Next games

Zenit will have a second straight home game as it welcomes MoraBanc Andorra to Russia in Top 16 Round 3. Cedevita returns to Russia to face off against UNICS Kazan.

Sergey Karasev - Zenit St Petersburg (photo Zenit) - EC18
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: PAPAPETROU, PETROS; BALAK, AMIT; BAUMANIS, INGUS
Attendance: 2529
By Quarter1234
Zenit St Petersburg20282228
Cedevita Zagreb26181822
End of Quarter1234
Zenit St Petersburg20487098
Cedevita Zagreb26446284
Zenit St Petersburg
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 ARMAND, SEAN 4:56           1 1 1   2          
2 REYNOLDS, JALEN 24:59 14 7/8     4 5 9 1   2     4 5 22
7 KARASEV, SERGEY 20:08 19 1/2 5/8 2/2   2 2 3   1     2 2 19
9 MEKEL, GAL 16:08   0/4 0/1   1 1 2 9   2   1 2 1 2
11 MILLER-MCINTYRE, CODI 18:56 5 1/4 1/4 0/2   3 3 5     1   2 2 6
14 PUSHKOV, ANTON 7:44 2 1/1     1   1     1     2    
16 TRUSHKIN, VLADISLAV 17:25 5   1/3 2/2 1 3 4   3 1     2 2 9
18 VORONOV, EVGENY 18:06 13 5/5 1/4   3 2 5 1 2 1     4 2 15
19 SIMONOVIC, MARKO 21:00 18 3/8 4/8   4   4 2 1 1     2 1 14
21 UTHOFF , JARROD 19:00 9 3/4 1/4     2 2 1 1   2       11
23 SCRUBB, PHILIP 24:21 9 2/4 1/5 2/2   2 2 5 3 2     1 2 12
31 VALIEV, EVGENY 7:17 4 1/1   2/2 2   2 1   1     2 1 5
Team           1 6 7               7
Totals 200:00 98 24/41 14/37 8/10 17 27 44 29 10 14 3 1 23 18 122
        58.5% 37.8% 80%
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
Cedevita Zagreb
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 PULLEN, JACOB 28:12 18 3/8 3/10 3/4   2 2 3 1 2 1   1 4 13
1 COBBS, JUSTIN 28:01 16 5/10 1/3 3/3   4 4 9 2 2   1 3 6 24
2 KRUSLIN, FILIP 20:27 8 1/2 2/4     2 2 2   3     2 4 8
6 KATIC, TONI DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 BAJO, DARKO 18:05 2 1/2     3   3   1       1   4
13 STIPANOVIC, ANDRIJA 25:31 8 4/6   0/1 3 3 6 1   5     3 1 5
19 BOSNJAK, DOMAGOJ 5:13 1     1/2       1         2 2 1
23 COOK, ELGIN 23:37 9 3/5 1/4   2 2 4 1   1   2 3 1 4
27 RAMLJAK, IVAN 19:58 9 2/3 1/3 2/2   3 3     1       2 10
29 MUSTAPIC, JAKOV 8:10         1   1 1   2     1   -1
88 MURIC, EDO 22:46 13 3/3 1/2 4/6   4 4 1 1 1     2 3 16
Team           2 3 5               5
Totals 200:00 84 22/39 9/26 13/18 11 23 34 19 5 17 1 3 18 23 89
        56.4% 34.6% 72.2%
Head coach: CIZMIC, TEO

Head Coaches

PLAZA, JOAN
Zenit St Petersburg
"When we are able to control our defensive rebounds is when we are able to run a bit more. We got some easy baskets in the third quarter to break open the game. We are still making a lot of mistakes on our defense, even when we are leading by 20 points. And that is something that we need to fix for the future."

Players

SIMONOVIC, MARKO
Zenit St Petersburg
"We improve our game day by day. First, we were good in defense, and because of it had many chances to create shots and fast breaks. We still have things to improve, but we have already made huge steps. It was the only fourth game with Plaza and we are on the right way."
KARASEV, SERGEY
Zenit St Petersburg
"That was a good team game. We played pretty good team offense, we almost scored 100 points. In the end, we were up 19 points and it's very important to keep up the points difference in the Top 16. I think we can do a better job on that. But it was a good team game. Now we have to prepare for an important game against Andorra next week at home."
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