2020-21Regular SeasonRound 10
ALBA Berlin 66
Zenit St Petersburg 73
November 20, 2020 CET: 20:00
Local time: 20:00 MERCEDES-BENZ ARENA

Zenit locks down ALBA for road win

Zenit St Petersburg salvaged split of the double-round week by ambushing ALBA Berlin in the German capital with a defensive-minded 66-73 victory on Friday. Its first victory ever in three tries against ALBA lifted Zenit's record to 4-2 and left the German club with a 2-6 mark thus far. Will Thomas led the winners with 17 points to go with 5 rebounds, while Arturas Gudaitis followed with 16 and 3, respectively. Mateusz Ponitka was right behind with 14 points. Ben Lammers recorded a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double for ALBA to go with 2 blocks. However, none of his teammates joined him in double figures as ALBA's 66 points matched its lowest in the last two seasons under head coach Aito Garcia Reneses.

Austin Hollins, Thomas and Lammers all hit a pair of baskets as Zenit took an early 4-8 lead. Niels Giffey joined Lammers in ALBA's scoring column as all the action remained. Johannes Thiemann, Alex Poythress, Giffey and Andrey Zubkov kept the two-pointers falling without answer from the three-point line as Zenit held a 10-12 lead after 10 minutes. The trading of baskets inside continued into the second quarter with even ALBA three-point ace Marcus Eriksson settling for two. Jayson Granger's first bucket put ALBA up 16-14 as the teams combined already for 16 missed threes. Zubkov finally broke the spell on the 17th collective try and Ponitka followed him to send Zenit to the game's biggest lead yet, 18-24. Despite an ALBA timeout, Zenit kept rolling to an 18-29 advantage as Kevin Pangos hit from deep. An exchange of free throws preceded Pangos feeding Poythress to make it 22-33 at halftime. After Thomas opened the second half from deep, Jonas Mattissek was cornered before he ended the hosts' triple drought on their 12th try. He came back for another at 30-38 but Poythress helped Zenit restored a double-digit lead until Luke Sikma's three-point play at 37-45. Granger's high-banked layup and assist to Giffey got ALBA closer before Zenit stayed ahead 43-51 after 30 minutes. Thiemann's bucket to start the fourth quarter was bettered with an and-one play by Arturas Gudaitis to make it 45-54. Gudaitis started moving bodies and taking names for 2 free throws and a new three-point play, on which he made his 10th free throw without a miss for a 45-59 lead. Lammers and Thiemann drew ALBA back to within 51-61 heading into the last 10 minutes. Lammers kept the home fires burning for the hosts, and when he scored again after Peyton Siva's triple, ALBA was within 58-63 with 2 minutes left. Dimitry Khvostov, Lammers and Ponitka hit 2 free throws each for a 60-67 Zenit lead. Within the final minute, Ponitka added 2 more as Granger missed as many and Siva converted a three-point play at 63-69 with 27 seconds left. The parade of free throws continued and, though interrupted by a triple from Siva, Zenit made sure to take the victory back to St Petersburg.

Pivotal performer

Zenit got veteran leadership from Will Thomas in the paint, where most of the action took place all game. His 17 points and 5 rebounds were the basis for his team-high 24 performance index rating, which was matched by Gudaitis.

Two-point dominance

The game was won inside by Zenit, whose forwards and centers hit 15 of 17 two-point tries on the night. Zubkov, Gudaitis and Poythress went a perfect 3-for-3 each while Thomas was 4-for-5 and Ponitka 2-for-3 inside.

Free-throw near-perfection

When Zenit wasn't downing inside shots, those big men were getting fouled, and they were the basis for a club-record 27 free throws made out of 28 tries. Only once has the club shot a better percentage and that was a 6-for-6 effort, so this was really Zenit's best night on the foul line. Gudaitis was 10-for-10, his best without a miss ever, while Thomas hit 6 of 6 and Ponitka 7 of 8.

Triple troubles

One reason for the defensive nature of the game was both teams starting it with 16 missed three-pointers between them. Zenit solved that in the second quarter but ALBA waited until 21:30 had elapsed before Jonas Mattisseck hit a couple, the only ones for the home team through two quarters. ALBA's woes worsened when its designated marksman from deep, Marcus Eriksson, went down injured late in the first half, being seen on crutches only after that. Thus ended his streak of 27 consecutive EuroLeague games making a three-pointer.

Next games

In Round 11, ALBA receives another Russia visitor, Khimki Moscow Region, on Thursday, November 26. Zenit, meanwhile, stays on the road to visit Zalgiris Kaunas the same night.

Arturas Gudaitis - Zenit St Petersburg - EB20
Friday, November 20, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: PERUGA, CARLOS; NEDOVIC, MILAN; RACYS, SAULIUS
Attendance: 0 (Tentative)
By Quarter1234
ALBA Berlin10122123
Zenit St Petersburg12211822
End of Quarter1234
ALBA Berlin10224366
Zenit St Petersburg12335173
ALBA Berlin
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 LO, MAODO 18:38 4 1/3 0/1 2/2       2       1   1 3
3 SIVA, PEYTON 21:07 8 1/3 1/4 3/3   1 1 8   1     1 4 14
5 GIFFEY, NIELS 16:57 6 3/5 0/1     2 2   1 1     5 1 1
6 DELOW, MALTE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 ERIKSSON, MARCUS 10:02 4 1/2 0/1 2/2 1 1 2     1     1 2 4
9 MATTISSECK, JONAS 13:53 6   2/3     1 1           4   2
10 SCHNEIDER, TIM 9:00           1 1     1          
20 FONTECCHIO, SIMONE 22:22 2 0/5 0/2 2/2 3 2 5 2   1     3 2  
32 THIEMANN, JOHANNES 12:53 6 3/5 0/4   2   2   1 2     2 4 3
33 GRANGER, JAYSON 26:40 7 2/4 1/4 0/2 1 3 4 2 3 1     1 3 10
43 SIKMA, LUKE 23:10 8 3/3 0/1 2/3 1 2 3 2 1 3     3 3 9
50 LAMMERS, BEN 25:18 15 6/10 0/1 3/4 4 6 10 1 1   2   3 4 24
Team             1 1     2         -1
Totals 200:00 66 20/40 4/22 14/18 12 20 32 17 7 13 2 1 23 24 69
        50% 18.2% 77.8%
Head coach: GARCIA RENESES, AITO
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 14:01   0/2 0/1     2 2           4 1 -4
4 PANGOS, KEVIN 30:19 3   1/4     4 4 8 1 4     2   7
7 FRIDZON, VITALY 3:06                         1   -1
9 HOLLINS, AUSTIN 23:53 6 2/5 0/4 2/2 1   1 2 3 2     1 1 3
10 THOMAS, WILL 24:36 17 4/5 1/2 6/6 1 4 5 1 1       1 3 24
12 BARON, BILLY 9:01   0/3 0/1     1 1     1   1 1   -6
13 KHVOSTOV, DMITRY 9:15 2   0/4 2/2       3   1     1 1  
16 TRUSHKIN, VLADISLAV 4:50     0/2     2 2                
20 ZUBKOV, ANDREY 15:57 9 3/3 1/1     4 4 1         1   13
22 POYTHRESS, ALEX 15:37 6 3/3     3 3 6   1 3 1   5 1 7
25 PONITKA, MATEUSZ 25:35 14 2/3 1/2 7/8   2 2 1       1 2 6 17
77 GUDAITIS, ARTURAS 23:50 16 3/3   10/10 1 2 3 2   2     5 10 24
Team                     1         -1
Totals 200:00 73 17/27 4/21 27/28 6 24 30 18 6 14 1 2 24 23 83
        63% 19% 96.4%
Head coach: PASCUAL, XAVI

Head Coaches

GARCIA RENESES, AITO
ALBA Berlin
"We played very bad on offense in the first half. My players need to practice and repeat the things. Only talking is not enough. They forget the things and begin to dribble. In the second half, it was very difficult against an opponent with high confidence. However, despite not playing well, we played with hustle, intensity and pride. We were losing, but we didn't give up."
PASCUAL, XAVI
Zenit St Petersburg
"Defense was very important tonight. We played against a team with an excellent coach that I think is the best team in the competition in fastbreaks, how they run and use the space. Today, we were very concentrated on this point. They couldn't score too much in transition. This was very important. We played very good defense in the first seconds of our defensive possessions. After that, of course, we had some mistakes, but we have to be happy with our defense. On offense, there were moments in the third and last quarters when ALBA played more aggressive defense and we lost the control of the game. But finally we played smart, we put the ball inside, we drew some fouls and we could finish the game. That was our plan. We wanted to attack inside and more or less we did it. This is why finally we took this important win."

Players

SIKMA, LUKE
ALBA Berlin
"They are physical team; they made it tough on us. But we battled to the end. Still, we have to learn a lot from this game. Of course, it is a difficult situation for us right now, but the games will not wait for us. Overall, I like how we responded to the situation so far. We have to continue doing that."
LAMMERS, BEN
ALBA Berlin
"They got us on pick-and-rolls a couple of times and created easy shots. We still tried to get back into the game. It doesn't matter how tired we are, we will always compete and try to win."
GUDAITIS, ARTURAS
Zenit St Petersburg
"It's a team victory, not only Will's and mine. Our teammates helped us to score today. But our mindset today was another, more of a defensive mindset because ALBA is one of the great offensive teams in Europe, especially in transition, so that was the key of the game, I think. Our coach told us before the game that ALBA never gives up and we must do the same. I think we did a good job. Every win is helping mentally and means we are doing something good in practices and the game."
THOMAS, WILL
Zenit St Petersburg
"Playing good team defense and individual defense and executing our offensive game plan got us the win. We came in with a set plan and we executed it. We just kept shooting. We knew they'd drop soon if we kept shooting, and they did. The game was up and down. We went on runs, they went on runs. At the beginning of the third quarter, I found some easy baskets, hit my free throws and had a good game."