By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Zenit St. Petersburg started the EuroLeague season with two impressive wins before a COVID-19 outbreak on the team stopped their activities and now they got another one on the road.
Mateusz Ponitka scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds as Zenit beat Baskonia 77 – 70 on the road in a rescheduled game for Round 3. Thanks to this victory, its fourth in four away games, the Russian side improved its record to 5 – 2.
After back-to-back comfortable wins over Fenerbahce Beko and Panathinaikos Athens, Baskonia struggled under Zenit’s intense defensive pressure and lost after finishing with a season-low 70 points. This was the third loss for Baskonia at home this EuroLeague season; a result that dropped them to 4-5. Rokas Giedraitis scored a team-high 15 points for the Basque team.
Baskonia last went ahead 49 – 47 before Zenit proceeded to take the lead and keep it during the last 12 minutes. Halfway through the fourth period, the guests went up by 17 points when Arturas Gudaitis (13 points, seven rebounds) scored for the 53 – 70.
The hosts made a comeback attempted with Luca Vildoza (11 points) making it a 7-point game with 48 seconds to play but there was no time for his team to completely erase its deficit.
Alex Poythress contributed 13 points and seven rebounds to Zenit’s win. Kevin Pangos had 10 assists along with nine points.