2020-21Regular SeasonRound 17
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 72
Zenit St Petersburg 78
December 29, 2020 CET: 20:05
Local time: 21:05 MENORA MIVTACHIM ARENA

Zenit holds on to win in Tel Aviv

Zenit St Petersburg put forward another strong defensive effort to defeat Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 72-78 on Tuesday night at Menora Mivtachim Arena. Zenit improved to 7-2 on the road and 10-5 on the season. The winners took their first lead late in the second quarter and then surged ahead to lead by as many as 16 in the third. Maccabi rallied to get within 3 with a minute to go, but Zenit made its free throws to seal the victory. Alex Poythress came through with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, Mateusz Ponitka tallied 14 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists and Kevin Pangos added 11 points and 6 assists for the winners. Scottie Wilbekin paced Maccabi in defeat with 18 points, Tyler Dorsey scored 13 and Ante Zizic and Elijah Bryant contributed 10 each as Maccabi fell to 7-10 and the midway points of the season, including 4-4 at home.

Maccabi got out to an excellent start with back-to-back threes by Wilbekin and Yovel Zoosman giving the hosts an 8-1 lead. Zenit recovered with Will Thomas and Pangos connecting from deep to trim the gap to 10-9. Wilbekin and Pangos continued to lead their respective offenses with the hosts maintaining a slim lead. Othello Hunter exited the game with an eye injury and would not return. After a monster alley-oop slam by Poythress got Zenit within 2, Chris Jones beat the first-quarter buzzer with a jumper to make it 22-18. Poythress and Andrey Zubkov scored early in the second quarter as Zenit tied it twice. Dorsey heated up for the hosts, but Zenit kept charging and a reverse layup by Ponitka gave the visitors their first lead, 31-32, with 4 minutes left in the half. Austin Hollins extended the margin to 4 before free throws by Zizic made it 35-37 at the break.

Arturas Gudaitis scored the first 2 baskets of the second half before Hollins buried a three-pointer to cap a 0-7 run, which prompted a Maccabi timeout. A three-pointer by Wilbekin was not enough to change the momentum as Thomas scored to give Zenit a double-digit lead, 38-48. Pangos twice drew offensive fouls from Bryant and Poythress scored inside to extend the margin to 13 and a slam-plus-foul by Poythress made it 46-62. John DiBartolomeo responded with a four-point play and Omri Casspi trimmed the deficit to 52-62 through three quarters. A pair of threes by Dorsey and a steal and layup by Wilbekin got Maccabi within 60-66. Zenit did not panic and the lead was back to double figures on a Ponitka floater with 6 minutes to play. Maccabi made another push with a three by DiBartolomeo and Wilbekin free throws to make it 67-73 with 3 minutes to play. A floater by Wilbekin got the hosts within 4 with 2 minutes remaining and a three-point play by Jones made it 72-75 with 1:05 on the clock. A free throw by Ponitka with 40 seconds remaining gave Zenit a two-possession lead. Wilbekin missed his next two shots and Thomas iced the game with free throws with 13 seconds left.

Pivotal player

Not only did Mateusz Ponitka stuff the stat sheet with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals, but the do-it-all swingman seemed to be involved in big plays all night. Ponitka's first basket of the game gave Zenit its first lead. He restored a double-digit lead in the fourth when Maccabi made its first rally. And Ponitka added 2 free throws in the final 2 minutes to help secure the outcome.

Noteworthy plays

Kevin Pangos made two big plays in the third quarter that may go unnoticed in the box score, but were critical to keeping his team's momentum at the right time. In less than a minute of game time, Pangos planted his feet in front of Maccabi guard Elijah Bryant to draw offensive fouls. Those plays double as Maccabi turnovers and put both Bryant and Maccabi under pressure as Zenit maintained a comfortable lead.

Telling numbers

The box score paints a clear picture of what Zenit did well: the visitors outrebounded Maccabi 26-36, held the hosts to just 50% shooting on two-pointers while making 63.9% and their 19 assists were 6 more than the hosts had.

What's next?

Both teams will be on the road next week to start 2021. Maccabi visits ALBA Berlin on Thursday, January 7. Zenit heads to Greece to face Panathinaikos OPAP Athens the same evening.

Alex Poythress - Zenit St Petersburg - EB20
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: HIERREZUELO, DANIEL; PUKL,SASA; KOROMILAS, ELIAS
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv22131720
Zenit St Petersburg18192516
End of Quarter1234
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv22355272
Zenit St Petersburg18376278
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 BRYANT, ELIJAH 28:12 10 4/7 0/3 2/3 1 4 5 2 1 2   1 4 3 7
1 WILBEKIN, SCOTTIE 30:16 18 3/6 2/9 6/6   4 4 3 2 1     3 3 16
3 JONES, CHRIS 8:40 5 2/3   1/1           1     1 3 5
4 CALOIARO, ANGELO 28:00 2 1/3 0/1     2 2 2 1       3 1 2
5 HUNTER, OTHELLO 2:14               1             1
7 CASSPI, OMRI 8:38 2 1/2       2 2     2       2 3
11 DORSEY, TYLER 21:43 13 1/3 3/5 2/5       1 1       2 3 9
12 DIBARTOLOMEO, JOHN 15:33 9 1/1 2/5 1/1       2 3       2 2 11
14 BLAYZER, OZ 5:06     0/1             1     2   -4
17 BENDER, DRAGAN 17:52   0/1       4 4     2     3 1 -1
23 ZIZIC, ANTE 17:31 10 4/6   2/2 2 2 4 1   2     2 3 12
50 ZOOSMAN, YOVEL 16:15 3 0/2 1/1     2 2 1 2 1   1     4
Team           2 1 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 72 17/34 8/25 14/18 5 21 26 13 10 13 0 2 22 21 67
        50% 32% 77.8%
Head coach: SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
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 24:00 5 1/1 1/4     5 5 1   1     1 1 7
4 PANGOS, KEVIN 28:36 11 2/4 2/6 1/1   2 2 6   4     3 4 10
7 FRIDZON, VITALY 3:09           1 1           1    
9 HOLLINS, AUSTIN 18:22 5 1/3 1/4     1 1   1 1     2   -1
10 THOMAS, WILL 29:49 7 1/1 1/1 2/2 1 5 6     2 2   2 3 14
12 BARON, BILLY 12:59 3   1/2         2 1       3   2
14 PUSHKOV, ANTON DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
16 TRUSHKIN, VLADISLAV DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 ZUBKOV, ANDREY 16:54 8 3/5   2/2 2 3 5 2   1     2 2 12
22 POYTHRESS, ALEX 19:01 16 7/9   2/3 1 4 5 2   1     4 3 18
25 PONITKA, MATEUSZ 32:41 14 4/8 1/2 3/5 1 6 7 5 2 4     2 5 20
77 GUDAITIS, ARTURAS 14:29 9 4/5   1/4 1 1 2 1         1 3 10
Team           1 1 2     2          
Totals 200:00 78 23/36 7/19 11/17 7 29 36 19 4 16 2 0 21 21 92
        63.9% 36.8% 64.7%
Head coach: PASCUAL, XAVI

Head Coaches

SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
"I think that today we started to fight when it was a little bit late. Although we started the game really good with high energy and intensity. In the first period, I think we did a great job of controlling the game, running the floor and playing good defense and offense, I think we had a lack of energy and intensity in the second and third periods. Although at halftime we discussed and said that we need to raise our energy and our intensity defensively and offensively to make faster decisions and to play, let's say, faster in the open court, but also in the set offense. I think the first 2 or 3 good minutes of Zenit, when they got the lead very fast of 9 points, I think this hurt our toughness. When the game was with a big difference, we started to press, to fight, we started to get balls. And as you saw, we had some options at the end in the last 2 minutes. We came back to the game, we had some options to tie the game, we missed some open shots. But we shouldn’t have let the game be that way. We should have done a better job in the third period."
PASCUAL, XAVI
Zenit St Petersburg
"I want to congratulate the players. They made a great effort. We are extremely happy because tonight we played against a great opponent. More or less, we had control of the game because we took an advantage in the third quarter and finally we could keep the advantage, but Maccabi has amazing quality and they play very well with passion and also very high character and they were ready to change the game, but finally through free throws and controlling the rebounds we could win. Tonight we have to be very happy."

Players

DORSEY, TYLER
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
"Our energy was kind of low, but when Othello [Hunter] went out, Coach tried to figure out different lineups, but it's hard to play with only one big, so it got difficult sometimes figuring it out there. We just couldn't figure it out tonight and they were getting too many points in the paint. Some nights are like that. We got many games coming up, especially on this stretch, we got to forget it, continue and get back to what we were doing in the last three games."
DIBARTOLOMEO, JOHN
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
"Unfortunately, we lacked some energy. We dug ourselves a hole early. We were playing catchup. That’s one of the things we try not to do because we want to set the tone from the beginning, which we didn’t do. Obviously, we missed Othello. He’s a huge part of our game. We just came up a couple of possessions short."
PONITKA, MATEUSZ
Zenit St Petersburg
"I hope in the second [half of the season] we can prove that we are also a good team at home! Definitely when we go out in the road games, we kind of have a good team spirit. Everybody enjoys the time that we spend together. We have a group of very smart and good guys. And it's a big pleasure to play on this kind of team. And of course, the coaching staff prepares us very well, the club helps us a lot with the charter flight and all this stuff… We played a very solid game today and we're happy."
POYTHRESS, ALEX
Zenit St Petersburg
"It was a team effort. We really hunkered down and played defense in that third quarter. We let it slip away a little in the fourth, but our team kept on pushing, our coaching staff kept on coaching us right and we got outta here with a W."
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