2018-19Top 16Round 4
MoraBanc Andorra 86
Zenit St Petersburg 74
January 23, 2019 CET: 20:00
Local time: 20:00 POLIESPORTIU D'ANDORRA

MoraBanc clinches first-ever quarterfinals berth

MoraBanc Andorra's magical ride reached the next stage as it punched its ticket to the 7DAYS EuroCup Quarterfinals for the first time with an 86-74 home victory over Zenit St. Petersburg. MoraBanc used a 13-3 fourth-quarter run to remain undefeated in Group H as both Dylan Ennis and David Walker scored 20 points. Rafa Luz added 12 points, 6 assists and 4 steals and both Moussa Diagne and Michele Vitali chipped in 10 points for the winners, who were playing without Andrew Albicy and David Jelinek. Zenit, which was without Sergey Karasev, dropped to 1-3 in the Top 16 despite a career-high 19 points plus 6 assists and 3 steals from Codi Miller-McIntyre. Jalen Reynolds added 13 points, Philip Scrubb 12 and Sean Armand 10 in the defeat.

Diagne opened the scoring with a three-point play and added another basket to push the hosts' lead to 11-4. Miller-McIntyre started taking over for Zenit with a score and then back-to-back three-pointers to trim it to 15-14. Miller-McIntyre scored yet again, but MoraBanc would not give up the lead and was up 24-19 after 10 minutes thanks to Luz's triple at the buzzer. MoraBanc continued to hit from long range with Reggie Upshaw draining a three and Ennis hitting two bombs for a 35-27 cushion. Scrubb answered with 4 points and Jarrod Uthoff knocked down a three. It was 43-38 at the break. Vitali sank a three-pointer to start the second half and make it an 8-point lead, but Zenit kept MoraBanc scoreless for more than 4 minutes and Scrubb scored 4 points in a 0-8 surge to even the game at 46-46. Upshaw snapped the drought, but Armand hit a three-pointer and Marko Simonovic put the guests ahead for the first time, 53-54, with a free throw. Zenit led 56-57 after 30 minutes. There were three lead changes to start the fourth quarter with Ennis's three-pointer making it 62-61. Walker followed later with a three-pointer and Luz completed an and-one to put MoraBanc up 70-63. Miller-McIntyre countered with another triple, but the hosts finished off Zenit with a 13-3 run over 4 minutes with Vitali scoring 5 points and Walker 4 to go up 83-69 with less than a minute to play.

Pivotal performer

With the main playmaker Andrew Albicy out with a cut finger, Rafa Luz stepped up with 12 points on 6 field attempts to go with 6 assists, 4 steals and 1 block.

Long-range bomber

Dylan Ennis not only tied his career high of 20 points, but he nailed 4 three-pointers for the second straight game against Zenit. The 27-year-old made 7 three-pointers in the regular season and already has 9 in the Top 16.

Telling numbers

MoraBanc may have had committed more turnovers than Zenit (17 to 15), but the hosts made 65.6% of its two-point attempts and 45.5% of its three-pointers, while Zenit was held to 47.4% and 37.0%, respectively.

Next games

MoraBanc will look to stay perfect as it remains at home to face Cedevita Zagreb on Wednesday. Zenit heads back home and will take on fellow Russian side UNICS Kazan at home on the same day.

David Walker - MoraBanc Andorra (photo Marti Imatge - Andorra) - EC18
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: SHEMMESH, SEFFI; VOJINOVIC, MILIJA; SUKYS, ARTURAS
Attendance: 1874
By Quarter1234
MoraBanc Andorra24191330
Zenit St Petersburg19191917
End of Quarter1234
MoraBanc Andorra24435686
Zenit St Petersburg19385774
MoraBanc Andorra
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 LUZ, RAFA 26:58 12 3/3 1/3 3/3 1   1 6 4 4 1   1 4 21
14 STEVIC, OLIVER 9:42 3 1/3   1/1   1 1   1 1     2 3 3
16 ALBICY, ANDREW DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
18 CAMPARA, SANI 0:27                              
21 DIAGNE, MOUSSA 25:51 10 4/5   2/3 1 7 8   1 3   1 4 3 12
22 SHURNA, JOHN 29:54 2   0/2 2/2   3 3 1 1       2 2 5
23 WALKER, DAVID 30:23 20 4/7 2/2 6/8 2 5 7 2     1 1 1 3 26
24 COLOM, GUILLEM 3:03               1   1          
30 UPSHAW, REGGIE 18:27 9 3/3 1/4 0/2 2 2 4     1     2 2 7
31 ENNIS, DYLAN 26:43 20 4/7 4/8         1 1 4     1 1 11
33 VITALI, MICHELE 19:38 10 2/3 2/3     4 4 2   1     3 2 12
44 JORDAN, JEROME 8:54   0/1       1 1 1   2     4   -5
Team             2 2               2
Totals 200:00 86 21/32 10/22 14/19 6 25 31 14 8 17 2 2 20 20 94
        65.6% 45.5% 73.7%
Head coach: NAVARRO, IBON
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 ARMAND, SEAN 16:13 10 1/2 2/3 2/2   1 1 4 2 3     3 3 12
2 REYNOLDS, JALEN 20:57 13 6/12   1/3 2 4 6 2   2   1 4 3 9
11 MILLER-MCINTYRE, CODI 31:57 19 3/6 4/8 1/1       6 3 3     2 2 18
12 BALASHOV, SERGEI 1:15 2 1/1                         2
14 PUSHKOV, ANTON 8:55         1 1 2   1 1     1 1 2
16 TRUSHKIN, VLADISLAV 11:05     0/2   2   2   1           1
19 SIMONOVIC, MARKO 27:38 6 1/3 1/6 1/2 1 2 3   1 2     3 2 -1
21 UTHOFF , JARROD 32:46 8 1/6 2/4   3 6 9 2   1 2 1 2 1 11
23 SCRUBB, PHILIP 31:30 12 3/6 1/4 3/4 2 1 3 2 3 3     1 5 14
31 VALIEV, EVGENY 16:29 4 2/2     1   1 1 1       3 3 7
77 USOLTSEV, ILIA 1:15         1   1           1    
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 74 18/38 10/27 8/12 14 17 31 17 12 15 2 2 20 20 78
        47.4% 37% 66.7%
Head coach: PLAZA, JOAN

Head Coaches

NAVARRO, IBON
MoraBanc Andorra
"We were a little bit low down in the third quarter. We are missing one of our most energetic players, Andrew Albicy. Dylan [Ennis] and Rafa [Luz] did a good job, but it was tough against them because they are a very physical team. But in the last quarter we came up with a huge effort and we got the win. We are thankful. Our challenge was to get into the Top 16. Now we are 4-0. We have one more game at home against Cedevita. We have to try to get the win. The goal now since we are in the final eight is to go for the first position."
PLAZA, JOAN
Zenit St Petersburg
"Andorra deserved to win 100 percent. We need to congratulate them. They deserve it not only from this game, but also the one in St. Petersburg. We suffered too many - even in a tight game. Like in the third quarter we took the lead by one point, but we made some easy mistakes in crucial moments."

Players

ENNIS, DYLAN
MoraBanc Andorra
"It's big. We wanted to play a full 40 minutes, and I think we did that today. This is so important. The coaching staff, the management have been doing such a great job, and we've been digging in. We've had ups and downs. Advancing is great, but we still have a lot more games. We don't want to stop now. We don't want to settle for second place now in the group."
PUSHKOV, ANTON
Zenit St Petersburg
"We were fighting for three quarters, but in crucial moments we made silly mistakes. Now we must play for our fans, without any regard for the opponents. We must win two games and wait for the mistake from UNICS in the last round."
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