2019-20Regular SeasonRound 10
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 70
Zenit St Petersburg 60
November 22, 2019 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 BUESA ARENA

Baskonia downs Zenit for second straight

KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz got an important 70-60 home win against Zenit St Petersburg on Friday to complete a much-needed two-game sweep of the double-round week at Buesa Arena. Baskonia raised its record to 5-5 and continues to knock on the door of the playoff spots as Zenit fell to 2-8 for the season. Zenit led for a long spell in the first quarter but once Baskonia found its range and figured out how to stifle the visitor's offense, the hosts continued to push ahead and led by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter. Tornike Shengelia paced Baskonia with 20 points, while Matt Janning hit for 11 and Luca Vildoza got into double digits with 10. Gustavo Ayon scored 18 for the visitors while Tim Abromaitis had 11 and Austin Hollis 10 on 3 three-pointers.

Zenit took a 2-6 lead on a four-point play from Hollins. The visitors turned that into a 5-10 lead with an Ayon jumper midway through the first quarter. Baskonia were level at 10-10 when Nik Stauskus hit a three but Ayon scored 4 unanswered to make it 10-14. Baskonia responded again but the first quarter ended 15-18 for Zenit. Baskonia went on a 5-0 run to start the second and led 20-18 as Vildoza hit a triple and Shavon Shields added a basket. Zenit retook the lead at 20-21 as neither side was able to assert itself on the scoreboard. The lead changed again with a Vildoza floater. The teams continued to exchange blows until Baskonia's Pierria Henry hit a long-ranger at 29-25. Baskonia continued to edge in front and led 34-28 at the half. The hoss got off to a quicker start in the second half, too, with 4 unanswered points before Abromaitis hit a long three to make it 42-38 midway through the third. Ayon hit another couple of scores to make it 44-42 as Zenit mounted a comeback. Shengelia edged Baskonia further ahead again at 47-42. Baskonia scored the next 5 points to make it 52-42 and kill off that mounting comeback with some key defensive stops. The hosts led 52-44 after three quarters. Ilimane Diop hit a three-point for Baskonia to make it 57-44, which was the biggest lead of the night. Will Thomas and Abromaitis scored to cut the lead, but with just 3 minutes remaining they had a long way to go with the score 61-53. Baskonia went on to win 70-60 in the end with superior defensive display.

Pivotal performer

Tornike Shengelia was excellent on the night with 20 points and some exquisite finishing at the rim. He had 7 rebounds and 2 assists, as well. It was his third game in a row scoring 20 points or more.

Stat of the night

Baskonia outworked Zenit on the boards all night. They finished with 40 rebounds with the visitors finishing with just 26.

Did you notice?

Shengelia came into the game with 1,447 points in his EuroLeague career. He eclipsed the 1,500 point milestone during his 20-point display on Friday night. This is by far his best scoring season too with a 19.5-point average after 10 games. His previous best was two years ago when he scored 13.7 a night.

Next game

Baskonia will travel to Greece to play Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on November 28. Zenit welcome host Real Madrid on November 29.

Tornike Shengelia - KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz - EB19
Friday, November 22, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: PUKL,SASA; DIFALLAH, MEHDI; RACYS, SAULIUS
Attendance: 10414
By Quarter1234
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz15191818
Zenit St Petersburg18101616
End of Quarter1234
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz15345270
Zenit St Petersburg18284460
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 VILDOZA, LUCA 28:27 10 2/2 2/5   2 3 5 4   4     4 1 9
5 GONZALEZ, MIGUEL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 HENRY, PIERRIA 23:29 4 0/2 1/2 1/2 1 3 4 2 2 4       3 7
11 JANNING, MATT 28:50 11 3/5 1/7 2/3 1 1 2 2           4 10
12 DIOP, ILIMANE 22:22 6 1/3 1/3 1/2 3 4 7 1     3   1 2 13
19 FALL, YOUSSOUPHA 11:13 4 2/5   0/1 1 2 3           3 1 1
22 STAUSKAS, NIK 20:04 5 1/2 1/3   1 2 3 3 1 1       1 9
23 SHENGELIA, TORNIKE 29:23 20 8/10 1/2 1/2 2 5 7 2 1 2     4 4 24
29 GARINO, PATRICIO 5:20     0/1             1     1 1 -2
31 SHIELDS, SHAVON 14:43 6 3/5 0/2   2 4 6     2   1 4 2 3
33 POLONARA, ACHILLE 7:33 2 1/1 0/2     2 2               2
50 ERIC, MICHAEL 8:36 2 1/3     1   1     1     1   -1
Team             3 3               3
Totals 200:00 70 22/38 7/27 5/10 14 29 43 14 4 15 3 1 18 19 78
        57.9% 25.9% 50%
Head coach: PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
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
4 IVERSON, COLTON 9:01 2 1/3     1 1 2 1   1   1 1 2 2
6 ALBICY, ANDREW 19:37 3 1/1 0/3 1/1   1 1 3         1   3
7 PONKRASHOV, ANTON 12:31     0/3     1 1 1     1   1 1  
9 HOLLINS, AUSTIN 21:02 10 0/1 3/5 1/1 2 2 4 1 1 1     4 1 9
10 THOMAS, WILL 32:16 4 2/9 0/4     4 4   1 1   1   2 -2
11 BALASHOV, SERGEI DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 RENFROE, ALEX 22:18 6 1/1 1/3 1/2   1 1 5 1 3     3 2 6
13 KHVOSTOV, DMITRY 15:12 2 1/2 0/1         3       1   2 4
14 PUSHKOV, ANTON 6:20 2 1/3       1 1     2     2   -3
16 TRUSHKIN, VLADISLAV 10:41 2 1/1 0/2   2   2           2    
21 ABROMAITIS, TIM 26:04 11 1/2 2/4 3/5 1 5 6 2 1       4 4 15
34 AYON, GUSTAVO 24:58 18 9/12     1 3 4   1 3     2 4 19
Team           1 3 4     2         2
Totals 200:00 60 18/35 6/25 6/9 8 22 30 16 5 13 1 3 20 18 55
        51.4% 24% 66.7%
Head coach: PLAZA, JOAN

Head Coaches

PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"I think that we played very solid defensively. We had a problem offensively, we didn't have good timing, but defensively we made good hustle and in a lot of situations they couldn't take easy shots, so this was key today. Sometimes, you need to score against teams in the EuroLeague. When they score very easy, you need to score, too. Today, we did enough but we'll see in the next few games."
PLAZA, JOAN
Zenit St Petersburg
"Congratulations to Baskonia. I believe we began the match quite stable. We were down 18-15 and we knew we had to force our way back to level the score. Our rotation might have hurt us a little bit and dropped us to 19-10 and that's possibly what caused the difficulty. In the third, we were 2 down with 3 minutes in. We started making errors and not making very smart or intelligent fouls. Baskonia plays more physical and is more physical than us. They dominated the rebounds. They pulled away and were getting self-rebounds and offensive rebounds which make it very difficult to win the match. We've had a bad night and we took some threes that didn't work for us and we just didn't have a good night. We improved in our defense and I'm happy for our defense but it’s true that we had a bad night in offense and we need to have a balance between the two."

Players

SHENGELIA, TORNIKE
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"Everybody contributed especially the last few games defensively; we changed the pace. We put more energy and more energy. I'm very happy and proud of my team and the coaching staff and I hope we can build on this. This team never surrenders. It's the character of Baskonia and hopefully, we can build on this and from tomorrow, we will think about the next game coming up."
JANNING, MATT
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"I thought we were really good on defense. You have to look at our defense effort for the whole game. We held them, I don't know what it finished, but 60-something points. It was a great effort for us, rebounds, defense. We got out and ran a little bit and that got us a few easy baskets and I think if we play like this, we can beat anyone, especially here at Buesa. We need to control everything at home, for sure, we need to play like this and win games at home, and we've got to try and play well on the road, too. And we need to take a step up when we play road games and travel. We need to keep going like this with big energy."
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