Zenit St Petersburg vs. AS Monaco

2021-22Regular SeasonRound 22

Zenit St Petersburg 77

AS Monaco 86

January 20, 2022 CET: 18:00

Local time: 20:00 SIBUR ARENA

Monaco triumphs in St Petersburg for fourth straight win

AS Monaco recorded its fourth consecutive victory on Thursday by defeating Zenit St Petersburg 77-86 at Sibur Arena. Mike James led the way with 21 points and 5 assists, Dwayne Bacon added 20 points and Donatas Motiejunas posted 16 points and 8 rebounds to lead Monaco, which improved to 9-11 on the season. Zenit, which trailed for all but a few seconds in the second quarter, could not overcome the absences of Arturas Gudaitis and Conner Frankamp and fell to 12-7. Jordan Mickey was Zenit’s top scorer with 18 points and 5 blocks, Dmitry Kulagin and Mindaugas Kuzminskas added 12 points apiece and Sergey Karasev scored 10 in defeat.

Pure HUSTLE from @TheNatural_05

He gives up the ball but chases all the way for the big block!#7DAYSMagicMoment pic.twitter.com/r0ElS9OuFY
— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) January 20, 2022

The big men opened the scoring with Motiejunas sandwiching a pair of buckets around a layup by Zenit’s Anton Pushkov. Motiejunas remained active with an assist to James for a three before he knocked down a triple of his own for a 4-12 lead. A timeout did little to cool the Monaco center down as Motiejunas grabbed a rebound at one end and made a basket in the lane at the other. Karasev stepped up for Zenit with a pair of baskets only to see Motiejunas split free throws to reach 10 individual points in less than 7 minutes. A triple by Karasev, free throws by Billy Baron and an unsportsmanlike foul by Will Thomas on Mickey that led to Mickey's free throws completed an 11-1 run that evened things at 15-15. Bacon’s three-point play put the visitors back in front and Kulagin could only make it 17-18 after 10 minutes.

Bacon added a jumper early in the second quarter and a three by Paris Lee made it 18-23. Tyson Carter come on for his EuroLeague debut only to see Danilo Andjusic score twice as Monaco recorded a 1-9 start to the quarter. After a timeout, Kuzminskas buried a three for Zenit, which slowly clawed away at the deficit. Carter’s first EuroLeague points came from the line and Kuzminskas also netted free throws to bring Zenit within 2. The Zenit forward made a three from the top of the key to complete the comeback at 30-29. Monaco regrouped with a basket by Motiejunas and a three by Andjusic. After free throws by Mickey, James scored his first points with a put-back in the final seconds of the half to make it 32-36 at the break.

Alex Poythress came out strong for Zenit with a dunk and a block, but Motiejunas and James continued to fuel Monaco, which led 34-42 after a jumper by the latter. Kulagin responded with 5 quick points to get Zenit back in the game. Free throws by Diallo made it 41-48 midway through the third quarter, but Kulagin remained red-hot and converted a three-point play. Bacon took control with a layup and a three-pointer to extend the difference to 46-55. Mateusz Ponitka scored twice for Zenit, however, a timeout cooled him down and Bacon made it 50-57 through three quarters.

James gave Monaco a 9-point lead again only to see Zenit chip away as Mickey got the host within 4. However, Bacon soon had Monaco cruising at 54-63. After a timeout, Will Thomas free throws made it a double-digit lead. The teams traded shots and Jordan Loyd finally got on the scoreboard with a three-pointer, but Monaco remained in control. The lead peaked at 62-75 with a jumper by James with 3 minutes to go. After a timeout, Loyd made free throws and Karasev a three to give Zenit hope, but James came through at the other end and Monaco held on for a key win.

Down the floor in a FLASH!

Yakuba Outtara rises for the big jam.#7DAYSMagicMoment pic.twitter.com/SvpormaEAx
— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) January 20, 2022

James turns it on in the second half

Mike James has been the driving force behind AS Monaco’s success this season, yet he was fairly quiet in the first half on Thursday in St Petersburg. The point guard’s put-back basket in the dying seconds of the second quarter were his only points of the half. However, James turned on his scoring mode for the second half when he scored 19 points on 7-of-9 two-point shooting and 1-of-3 three-point shooting. He also made 2 free throws, both in the fourth quarter, and posted a performance index rating of 20 in the final 20 minutes. James raised his average to 15.5 points, 6.0 assists and a PIR of 17.0 for the season.

Mickey sets Zenit record for blocks

With Arturas Gudaitis sidelined, Jordan Mickey made up for his injured teammate by posting his finest game for the season for Zenit St Petersburg. The big man posted 18 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 5 blocks for a performance index rating of 27. He tied his season-high in scoring and set a season-high in PIR. The 5 blocks tied his career-best and set a club record, too. The previous record was 4 which was set by Colton Iverson in January 2019 and tied earlier this season in Round 7 by Alex Poythress. Mickey also blocked 5 shots twice last season with Khimki Moscow Region.

By the numbers: Monaco simply shoots better

AS Monaco can point to the shooting numbers to understand the difference in its Round 10 win over Zenit St Petersburg. The visiting team simply shot much better from the field. Monaco combined to make 54.2% of its two-pointers (26 for 48) and 43.8% of its threes (7 of 16). In contrast, Zenit was 51.4% (18 of 35) on twos and 29.2% on threes (7 of 24). On top of that, Monaco also outrebounded Zenit (32-38) and committed fewer turnovers (12-10), which spelled out the differences.

Thursday, January 20, 2022

Euroleague.net

Referees: JAVOR, DAMIR; BALAK, AMIT; OBRKNEZEVIC, UROS

Attendance: 2414

By Quarter	1	2	3	4
Zenit St Petersburg	17	15	18	27
AS Monaco	18	18	21	29

End of Quarter	1	2	3	4
Zenit St Petersburg	17	32	50	77
AS Monaco	18	36	57	86

Zenit St Petersburg

							Rebounds						Blocks		Fouls
#	Player	Min	Pts	2FG	3FG	FT	O	D	T	As	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	PIR
1	CARTER, TYSON	6:45	2	0/2		2/2	1		1	2				1		2	4
2	LOYD, JORDAN	26:04	9	1/3	1/4	4/4		3	3	5	1	3			4	3	9
3	ZAKHAROV, DENIS	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	KARASEV, SERGEY	17:51	10	2/3	2/5							1			1		4
9	KULAGIN, DMITRY	23:23	12	4/4	1/1	1/1		1	1	3		2			4	2	12
12	BARON, BILLY	11:53	2	0/2	0/5	2/2		1	1	1		1			1	1	-4
14	PUSHKOV, ANTON	4:19	2	1/1			1	1	2						2		2
19	KUZMINSKAS, MINDAUGAS	17:16	12	1/4	2/3	4/4		2	2		1			1	1	4	13
20	ZUBKOV, ANDREY	19:19		0/1	0/3	0/2	2	5	7	1	1	1				3	5
22	POYTHRESS, ALEX	17:02	4	1/1		2/2		2	2	2		1			4	1	4
25	PONITKA, MATEUSZ	17:08	6	3/6	0/1		1	4	5	2		2		1	2	1	5
55	MICKEY, JORDAN	39:00	18	5/8	1/2	5/7	2	1	3	2	2	1	5		3	7	27
	Team						3	2	5								5
	Totals	200:00	77	18/35	7/24	20/24	10	22	32	18	5	12	5	3	22	24	86
				51.4%	29.2%	83.3%

Head coach: PASCUAL, XAVI

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

AS Monaco

							Rebounds						Blocks		Fouls
#	Player	Min	Pts	2FG	3FG	FT	O	D	T	As	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	PIR
3	DEMAHIS, RUDY	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	LEE, PARIS	10:30	3	0/1	1/1						1				2	1	2
8	BACON, DWAYNE	24:40	20	6/12	2/4	2/4	1	5	6	1		2		1	3	4	15
10	THOMAS, WILL	35:05	8	3/3	0/1	2/2	1	3	4	4	1				1	2	17
11	DIALLO, ALPHA	19:32	5	0/2	1/1	2/4	1	2	3	2	2			1	4	2	5
12	MOTUM, BROCK	11:01		0/1	0/1			3	3						1
20	MOTIEJUNAS, DONATAS	21:52	16	6/9	1/2	1/2	3	5	8	1		1	1		3	4	21
24	OUATTARA, YAKUBA	13:21	4	1/3		2/2	2		2					1	1	1	3
28	FAYE, IBRAHIMA	10:30				0/2					1	1	1		5	1	-5
32	GRAY, ROB	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
33	ANDJUSIC, DANILO	19:11	9	2/3	1/2	2/2		3	3	2		3			2	3	10
55	JAMES, MIKE	34:18	21	8/14	1/4	2/2	1	3	4	5	2	2	1	2	2	4	22
	Team						3	2	5			1					4
	Totals	200:00	86	26/48	7/16	13/20	12	26	38	15	7	10	3	5	24	22	94
				54.2%	43.8%	65%

Head coach: OBRADOVIC, SASA

Head Coaches

PASCUAL, XAVI

Zenit St Petersburg

“We didn’t play well tonight. We were not effective even when we were completely open, our offense was not enough and our defense, the second half James took the game. We couldn’t play one-on-one well against him and Bacon. They were better than us and this is why they won tonight.”

OBRADOVIC, SASA

AS Monaco

“We did the job. We controlled the game the whole time. We knew what to do in each moment. I’m extremely happy because this comes after another game and we didn’t lose the energy, which shows great confidence from my team. We played calm, we didn’t rush and in the end, I feel a bit sorry for the points difference from the first game, but anyway we should be happy with this great win.”

Players

MOTIEJUNAS, DONATAS

AS Monaco

“We were ready, we were talking in the locker room that they were going to come out aggressive and that we needed to be the same aggressive, same physical, so I think we achieved that. In the second half, we controlled the rhythm of the game and won an important game for us… We’re incredibly skilled defensively, our team overall, and just listening to what coach is telling us and fulfilling his game plans helps us to win games like this.”

JAMES, MIKE

AS Monaco

“It was a long week, ‘cause we had a double-week, so we’re playing catch-up right now. We needed to come out here and compete and I’m happy we came out with a win. [The key was] on defense. I think we’re picking it up slowly, exactly what coach wants us to do. We’re talking more, helping each other out. And I think offensively, we’re talented, but when we get stops, we’re dangerous. In the first half, I think we controlled the game pretty well and I didn’t shoot the best, but I didn’t really need to, we had a lot of contributions from other people. But I gotta stay aggressive and keep reading the defense and I was able to knock down some shots.”