By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Zenit St. Petersburg advance to the EuroCup quarterfinals despite losing to Lietuvos Rytas on the road. The two teams finished the Top 16 with the same record, 3-3 in Group F, but coach Karasev’s squad moved forward thanks to the tiebreaking advantage, since it had won by 9, 88 – 79 in Russia.
This result creates a Russian showdown in the Top 8 between Lokomotiv Kuban and Zenit St. Petersburg.
David Logan had a beautiful game of 28 points, 7 assists and 5 steals but it wasn’t good enough to give his team victory by the desired +9 margin. The American guard dropped 20 of his points in the first half, practically keeping Rytas in the game since his team had overall produced 36 points against Zenit’s 40.
Led by Sergey Karasev (24 points, 6 rebounds), Janis Timma (21 points, 5 rebounds) and Stefan Markovic (10 points, 9 assists), the Russian team pushed back their opponents efforts which became more threatening after the break.
When more players (Corey Fisher 17 points, Drew Gordon 11 points, 14 rebounds) entered the offensive equation for the hosts, Rytas approached closer and even led by 3, 75 – 72 with 3:40 to go. But Timma’s perimeter shooting made sure that his team would be safe and good on the road to the quarterfinals.