2020-21Regular SeasonRound 5
February 22, 2021 CET: 18:00
Local time: 20:00 SIBUR ARENA

Zenit beats Milan, soars to fourth place

Zenit St Petersburg defeated AX Armani Exchange Milan 79-70 on Monday at Sibur Arena in a makeup game from Round 5 that sent the victors into fourth place in the standings. Zenit improved to 15-9 – leapfrogging three teams with 15-10 records – and dropped Milan to 16-9. Kevin Pangos starred with 16 points, 10 assists and 3 steals to lead Zenit, Arturas Gudaitis also scored 16 and blocked 2 shots, Billy Baron added 13 points and Will Thomas and Alex Poythress netted 10 points apiece. Kevin Punter paced Milan with 16 points, Shavon Shields scored 15, Sergio Rodriguez had 10 and Kyle Hines produced 9 points and 10 rebounds in defeat. After Shields tied the game at 60-60 3 minutes into the fourth quarter, Zenit held the visitors to just one basket over nearly 5 minutes during an 11-2 run that decided the game.

Shields stood out for Milan early with a three-pointer and a layup after an offensive rebound. However, the visitors soon found themselves in trouble when starting center Kaleb Tarczewski was called for his second foul after just 1:13 of playing time. Zenit began attacking the paint with Gudaitis leading the way; the big man scored three times and dished an assist to Mateusz Ponitka in a 10-0 Zenit run. Hines and Rodriguez came off the bench to revive the visitors and trim the deficit to 14-13. Poythress and Thomas helped the hosts extend their advantage to 19-15 after 10 minutes. Baron sniped Zenit's first three of the game to open the second quarter and his layup later made it 28-20. A three-pointer by K.C. Rivers gave Zenit its first double-digit lead, 33-22, and prompted a Milan timeout midway through the second quarter. Vladimir Micov helped bring Milan back with free throws and a triple to narrow the gap to 36-31. Despite a pair of slams by Gudaitis, Milan continued to fight back and a three by Michael Roll made it 40-38 at the break.

After a scoreless first half, Punter's four-point play tied the game early in the second half. Then he scored on the break and beat the shot clock with a jumper to put Milan up 42-46. A pull-up three by Baron put Zenit back in front as the lead started to change hands with regularity. A jumper by Hines tied it at 54-54 at the end of the third quarter. Shields's put-back restored a Milan edge at the onset of the fourth. Zenit regained control on a jumper by Thomas, 60-58. Pangos twice drove into the heard of the Milan defense for baskets that put Zenit ahead by 4. A basket-plus-foul by Gudaitis, who was fresh off the bench, made it 68-62 with 3 minutes remaining. A three by Pangos was answered by Punter with his second four-point play of the game. After free throws by Gudaitis, a deep three by Pangos made it 76-66 with 1 minute on the clock as the hosts held on for a crucial victory.

Game-changing run

After Shavon Shields tied the game at 60-60 3 minutes into the fourth quarter, Zenit held the visitors to just one basket over nearly 5 minutes during an 11-2 run that decided the game. Kevin Pangos starred with 7 points and an assist in that time.

The tiebreaker

These teams met three weeks earlier in Italy where Milan won 82-76. By virtue of Zenit's 9-point victory, Coach Xavi Pascual's men now hold the head-to-head tiebreaker between these teams. What's more, if Zenit has played one game less than Milan and if it wins its postponed Round 6 game against Panathinaikos, it could overtake Milan for third place.

The telling statistics

Zenit outpointed Milan in almost every major statistical category, including two-point shooting (66.7%-57.5%), three-point shooting (33.3%-28.6%), rebounds (32-28), assists (21-12) and blocks (5-0) to compile a performance index rating of 108 to Milan's 66.

Milan Milestones

Two Milan players moved up on the all-time EuroLeague ranks. Kyle Hines took his career point tally to 2,658 points to overtake – at least temporarily – Alexey Shved of Khimki Moscow Region (2,655) for 12th place all-time. Sergio Rodriguez broke a tie with Milos Teodosic to take sole possession of fifth place on the career charts with 472 three-pointers made.

What's next?

Both teams will be back in action in Round 26 on Thursday evening. Zenit hosts Valencia Basket. Milan returns home to face Khimki Moscow Region.

Kevin Pangos - Zenit St Petersburg - EB20
Monday, February 22, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: HIERREZUELO, DANIEL; BOLTAUZER, MATEJ; KOROMILAS, ELIAS
Attendance: 3070 (Tentative)
By Quarter1234
Zenit St Petersburg19211425
AX Armani Exchange Milan15231616
End of Quarter1234
Zenit St Petersburg19405479
AX Armani Exchange Milan15385470
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 28:48 3 0/1 1/4     2 2       1   2    
3 ZAKHAROV, DENIS 4:40     0/1         2 1   1   1   2
4 PANGOS, KEVIN 32:20 16 5/7 2/4     4 4 10 3 3     3 2 25
7 FRIDZON, VITALY 3:38                              
9 HOLLINS, AUSTIN 10:30 2 1/2 0/1                   1   -1
10 THOMAS, WILL 23:57 10 3/5 0/1 4/4 2 3 5   1         2 15
12 BARON, BILLY 24:03 13 2/3 3/7     1 1 2 1   1   1 3 15
14 PUSHKOV, ANTON DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 ZUBKOV, ANDREY 15:58 3 1/2   1/2 1 4 5 2         2 2 8
22 POYTHRESS, ALEX 19:14 10 5/7     1 1 2 1 1 1     1   10
25 PONITKA, MATEUSZ 16:06 6 1/1   4/6 2 5 7 3   2     4 6 14
77 GUDAITIS, ARTURAS 20:46 16 6/8   4/6 4 1 5 1   3 2   2 5 20
Team           1   1     1          
Totals 200:00 79 24/36 6/18 13/18 11 21 32 21 7 10 5 0 17 20 108
        66.7% 33.3% 72.2%
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
AX Armani Exchange Milan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 PUNTER, KEVIN 23:29 16 4/7 2/6 2/2       2   2   1 2 2 8
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 24:08 5 0/1 1/1 2/2   1 1 1 4       2 1 9
9 MORASCHINI, RICCARDO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 ROLL, MICHAEL 16:50 7 2/3 1/1     1 1           2 2 7
13 RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO 21:33 10 3/4 1/6 1/1   3 3 5   3   1 2 4 10
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 14:33   0/2     2 1 3           2 3 2
19 BILIGHA, PAUL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 CINCIARINI, ANDREA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
23 DELANEY, MALCOLM 22:18 4 2/7 0/3     1 1   2 1   2 5 1 -8
31 SHIELDS, SHAVON 31:24 15 6/8 1/3   3 1 4 2           2 19
42 HINES, KYLE 27:42 9 4/6   1/2 2 8 10 1 1 4   1 4 1 10
70 DATOME, LUIGI 18:03 4 2/2 0/1         1         1 1 4
Team           4 1 5               5
Totals 200:00 70 23/40 6/21 6/7 11 17 28 12 7 10 0 5 20 17 66
        57.5% 28.6% 85.7%
Head coach: MESSINA, ETTORE

Head Coaches

PASCUAL, XAVI
Zenit St Petersburg
"I think in the second half we played very good basketball. We had problems, especially in the third quarter, with defensive rebounds. That was very important. We didn’t start well the third quarter and this is why Milan changed a little bit the way of the game; they took a small advantage, but step-by-step we came back to the game, step-by-step we played better on offense and from offense we improved our defense also and in the last quarter we played with great personality that in the previous game against Crvena Zvezda, we didn’t show this personality. But today in the last quarter we worked very well and we are very happy to bring this win to all the supporters who were with us today. We are very happy with what we’ve done until now, but we have to continue game by game."
MESSINA, ETTORE
AX Armani Exchange Milan
"It was like a playoff game, a game between two very good teams, who played very physical. And I think it was exactly the opposite of the game in Milan. I think we had a good end of the first half and a good third quarter like Zenit had in Milano and then we did not sustain that in the fourth quarter. We were not sharp enough defensively and we were not sharp enough offensively to beat a good team like Zenit. They attacked us a lot with Will Thomas in the post and we had no answer for that. We did not play good defense against Pangos."

Players

GUDAITIS, ARTURAS
Zenit St Petersburg
"All the time when you play against an ex-team, it's something special. I only have great feelings about Milan because I spent a really good three years there, but today I'm really happy for my team that we won. Our defense today was the key, I think. Defensive rebounds also and controlling the rebounds. That's the key for the win and also we started really good in the fourth quarter and that was the key."
PANGOS, KEVIN
Zenit St Petersburg
"I'm satisfied. That's obviously a great team that we played, very talented, they play hard and for us to get that win at home was huge for us. I think everybody in the locker room is very happy right now. Our defense [was critical in the fourth quarter]. I think we played really aggressive. We got the rebounds, we flew around, everyone helped each other. In order to win a game like that, you've gotta seal it at the end and that's what we did."
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