Shields shines in Trento’s record win over Zenit

Dolomiti Energia Trento sent a strong message to the rest of Group D with a 103-81 rout of Zenit St. Petersburg on Tuesday at PalaTrento. Trento set club records for points scored, margin of victory and free throws attempted (31) in improving to 3-4 in the group and taking the head-to-head tiebreaker from Zenit, which fell to 4-3. Zenit had defeated Trento by 11 in Round 2. Shavon Shields scored 10 points in a 17-0 start that set the stage for a blowout and the hosts used an 11-0 second-quarter run to take the margin to 30 en route to a 54-28 halftime lead, from which Zenit could not recover. Shields finished with a personal best 23 points plus 8 rebounds and Toto Forray scored a career-high 20 for the winners. Chane Behanan added 17 points on near-perfect shooting, Beto Gomes posted 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals and Jorge Gutierrez netted 11 points. Trento outrebounded Zenit 40-24, including 16 offensive rebounds to the visitors’ 5. Sergey Karasev led the Zenit attack with 20 points, Demonte Harper scored 16 and Nicolas Laprovittola recorded 15 points and 6 assists.

Shields had a pair of dunks and a three-pointer in the first two minutes as Trento stormed out to a 12-0 lead. The Zenit nightmare continued with its sixth turnover in the first four minutes as Forray buried a triple to make it 17-0. Kyle Kuric finally got Zenit on the board with a layup in transition and Karasev added a three, but Trento remained in control, 24-7, thanks to free throws by Shields and Gutierrez. A third foul by shields sent him to the bench, but Trento remained in total control with the lead growing to 28-9 on Behanan’s put-back slam at the end of the first quarter. A Gutierrez-to-Behanan alley-oop slam took the difference into the 20s at the start of the second quarter. Harper helped Zenit get on a 0-6 spurt, but Forray answered with 4 quick points for the hosts and the lead was 20 again on Dominique Sutton’s coast-to-coast layup. Forray hit a long three and Gomes and Gutierrez each converted a layup-plus-foul during an 11-0 charge for a 51-22 lead. A Behanan layup stretched the difference to 30 before Karasev and Drew Gordon scored to bring Zenit within 54-28 at the break.

Forray scored first and set up Shields for a slam as Trento picked up where it left off. Threes by Karasev and Kuric did little to stop Trento, which pushed the lead into the 30s on a Gomes triple. The lead got to 33 before Harper’s three-pointer made it 74-44 after three quarters. Forray and Behanan continued to provide highlights as Trento raised the difference to 83-45. Laprovittola poured in some late points to lower the margin, but the outcome was never in doubt.