By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Zenit St. Petersburg defeated FC Barcelona with a 74-70 victory for Round 2 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a game that was initially planned to take place Thursday but was rescheduled for Friday following the positive COVID-19 cases in Barcelona’s staff that forced the team to enter quarantine.
The scoring trio of Billy Baron, Alex Poythress and Kevin Pangos rose to the occasion for Xavi Pascual’s squad and were the protagonists of the night.
Poythress touched double-digit numbers with 16 points and 11 rebounds, Baron also shared 16 points, while Pangos exited the game with 15 points and a couple of heroic shots from the three-point line.
Apart from the triplet of success, Will Thomas (10 points, six rebounds) changed the course of the game midway of the fourth period to put Zenit in the lead by three points. An unsportsmanlike foul on Pangos by Nick Calathes (nine points, five assists) would turn out lethal for the Spanish side, as the hosts kept control of the lead until the end.
“Of course, we are happy. Especially for the players, it was a very difficult week, a very difficult last 24 hours. It was very difficult to manage the situation, but I’m very happy for all the players and how they fought today”, said Pascual after the game.
Nikola Mirotic posted 11 points and seven rebounds, Alex Abrines tapped 11 points, as Tomas Masiulis took charge of Barcelona’s bench in Sarunas Jasikevicius’ absence, as he is still recovering from COVID-19.
Zenit moves along with its second victory of the season, yet another upset after defeating Efes in the opening week. Barcelona suffered its first loss and will look to recover its lost ground in the double-game week that follows.
Photo: EuroLeague