By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Zenit Saint-Petersburg’s defensive approach paying dividends again Thursday with the 83-75 win over Zalgiris Kaunas at the Zalgirio Arena in Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 11 action.
Austin Hollins off 13 first-period points poured a season-high 20 behind 6/11 field goals. Will Thomas put in 16 points. Kevin Pangos scored 13 and dished out a game-high 7 assists against his former team.
“I thought we played a pretty complete game,” mentioned Pangos, “Defensively, we were pretty solid, didn’t make many mistakes and we turned that into offense and were making shots. When you combine the two, it’s great for our team, we looked great out there.”
In another quick turnaround to complete a stretch of five EuroLeague games in slightly less than two weeks, the Russian outlet extremely focused controlled the tempo avoiding mistakes, almost altogether through the first three quarters.
The team masterminded by Xavi Pascual battled off a late comeback bid to improve to 5-0 on the road and 6-2 overall. Back home next week to bump into Fenerbahce Beko Thursday.
“It was just an aggressive game. We stuck to the game plan really well tonight,” noted Hollins after the match, “Obviously, we let them back in the game late, but we got the W and that’s most important.”
“I am very happy today that we played one of our games best games until now. Offensively and defensively, on both sides,” added Pascual, “I have to say congratulations also to Zalgiris because it was a lesson for us that when we led by 20 points, they fought and they came back somehow into the game.”
The hosts had dropped both games versus Zenit last season in overtime, but matters got worse. The fourth loss in a row at home and fifth straight overall send them down to 5-6.
Marius Grigonis made out a team-high 18 points. Joffrey Lauvergne followed with 17 and Augustine Rubit logged in 12 but not much else scrolling down the scoring chart.
“We dug ourselves holes. Also, we crawled out of the holes but the holes were too deep to get out of them within 40 minutes,” claimed Martin Schiller, “Digging the holes is the challenge we have to fight to give ourselves chances to win these quality teams.”
Zalgiris still missing injured Patricio Garino will attempt to get back on track next Friday with FC Barcelona planning a Lithuania visit.