«Зенит» Санкт-Петербург, Россия vs. «Красный Октябрь» Волгоград, Россия

In a Regular Season game Zenit from St. Petersburg got the win at home over Volgograd’s Krasny Oktyabr – 94:93. White and Blue team mounted a spirited comeback in the 4th and had a chance to win it on the last possession, but came up short.

The Plot.
Both teams won their opening games in flamboyant fashion, scoring over a 100 points each and coming down with a bunch of highlights. Both teams are poised for a Play-offs run this year, so the game in St. Petersburg promised to shape into quite a contest.

Zenit played better in the game’s debut. While their opponents relied heavily on Tony Mitchell’s individual skill, players from Zenit had more variety in terms of their offense. Ryan Toolson scored with ease, Janis Timma and Zabian Dowdell scored on a couple of fast breaks. Having won the first quarter 27:19, the White and Blue didn’t let up their aggression. They stayed organized, hit four shots from deep, forced errors and put their opponents in foul trouble. All of that led to the point difference increasing to 20 points.

After teams switched baskets it seemed as if they traded their game plans as well, whatever was said in Oktyabr’s locker room worked! Zenit on the other hand came out of the break playing sloppy and allowed Volgograd back in the ballgame - 67:79 in the end of the 3rd period.

During the final stretch Oktyabr, being led by Jordan Hamilton, threw everything they had at their adversaries. They kept clawing their way back in the game to the sound of nervous silence in their home GYM. Two straight 3-pointers by Vyacheslav Zaitsev with 1:41 remaining in regulation got the visitors to within one – 86:87. The fans were on the edges of their seats anxiously waiting for the conclusion.

The Key Moment.
Zenit managed to stop the bleeding and played under composure the next minute and a half. They were up four with only seven seconds to go when Mitchell got the basketball and hit a turn-around three with an unbelievable degree of difficulty - 94:93. Shortly after Zenit’s Artyom Vikhrov committed a five second violation trying to inbound the ball against Zenit’s full court pressure. Oktyabr had the last shot and called another play for Mitchell, he drove to the basket and pulled up from mid-range, but his jumper was just off as the buzzer sounded.

The Hero.
Ryan Toolson. American guard didn’t just put the ball in the basket (22 pts), but also found his teammates for 8 assists. What’s more important was his leadership in the clutch, he started his team’s run in the first half and scored 6 of 8 team’s points in the final 2 minutes.

The Number.
8 – Number of Krasny Oktyabr’s missed free throws.

The Quotes.
Vasily Karasev. Zenit’s head coach.
It’s nice to get a win, but our play in the end left a bitter taste in my mouth. We are thin on the frontline. Valiev and Koscheev didn’t recover from their injuries, Pushkov played hurt – he couldn’t jump at all, therefore it’s tough to play with only one big, especially on defense. I liked our transition in the first half, but after the break I think we started showing signs of fatigue. A win is a win nonetheless.

Kyrylo Bolshakov. Krasny Oktyabr’s head coach.
You saw two completely different halves of play from our team today. At first there was a team that made mistakes and pulled apart and then also a team that was trying hard to mount a comeback and almost pulled it off. We are sad that the outcome isn’t in our favor, but the fact remains, we played a very solid second half of basketball, so we’ll try to build on that.
The Stats.