Basketball CSKA beat St. Petersburg Zenit with a score of 104:89
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In the central match of the week of the VTB United League regular championship, CSKA hosted Zenit. The teams did not have enough four ten minutes to sort things out, and then the outcome of the confrontation was decided in overtime. He, however, completely remained with CSKA. The army team won with a score of 104:89 and strengthened their leadership in the championship.
Just before the start of the season, Zenit was so successful and impressive spoke in the League Super Cup, that many rushed to write down the St. Petersburg team as the undisputed favorites of the season. But things weren’t going well for Javi Pascual’s team. For a long time it remained in the middle of the standings, losing to all key competitors (CSKA, Lokomotiv-Kuban, UNICS). But in recent weeks, as injured players returned to action, Zenit became stronger. The team went on a streak of seven victories, which allowed it to rise to a much more suitable second place.
Success in the confrontation with CSKA, the championship leader, could be obvious evidence that Zenit’s difficult times are finally behind them.
But for now we have to admit that, despite the obvious progress, Zenit has something to work on.
In principle, on Sunday Zenit played a good game away against CSKA. The home-court factor gave the army team more opportunities to play as number one, which is what they did, at times producing breakthroughs that were extremely unpleasant for the enemy. Well, like the one set up by Tony Jekiri, who, coming off the bench, brought CSKA ten points in just five minutes.
Most of CSKA’s opponents don’t take the army’s outbursts well, quickly fall behind by 10-15 points, and then painfully try to save the game. Most often – without success. It is not surprising that CSKA has only one defeat this season. But Zenit held on.
The guests were greatly helped by the fact that CSKA was not doing well with three-point shots (this problem could not be solved by the end of the match – only 5 hits out of 25 attempts). But the guests themselves stubbornly found ways to take the CSKA ring. The team’s main earner was Tren Fraser, but there was also Thomas Ertel, whose return to action made Zenit’s game much more complete, and Vince Hunter, who played very usefully in the paint.
An overall equal game probably couldn’t do without a combat ending.
Although here, too, CSKA contributed as best it could to make it happen. A few seconds before the siren, the hosts led by three points. And then their nerves failed them. Zenit’s monstrously active movements when the army team put the ball into play led to the “five seconds” rule being violated. Well, after a timeout, Fraser made a three-point shot, which equalized the score (82:82) and sent the game into overtime.
It seemed that the psychological advantage would then go to the guests, but in reality the CSKA players did not seem to notice the most offensive misfire and in the extra five minutes continued to play at the same level. Zenit, after a couple of unsuccessful attacks, suddenly collapsed. So much so that it allowed CSKA to score 22 points in overtime – repeating the league record set by Astana back in 2018.
As a result, the army won with a score of 104:89 and strengthened their leadership in the regular season.
“As always, the match against Zenit turned out to be excellent,” CSKA coach Emil Raikovich noted after the game. “We controlled the match most of the time, our achievements mostly worked. Except for the ending, where we made two serious mistakes. But the team showed character and composure after such a fall and confidently won in overtime.”
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