By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
ALBA Berlin hung on to upset visiting Zenit St. Petersburg with a 76-67 win in Round 26 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and bounced back after their defeat to CSKA Moscow last week.
Maodo Lo and Yovel Zoosman called game for ALBA, with a key presence in the fourth quarter. Lo paced all scorers of the winners with 15 points and 4 assists, while Zoosman hit back-to-back baskets to give ALBA the advantage and finished the game with 9 points and 7 rebounds.
Christ Koumadje and Ben Lammers were added to the list of top scorers with 9 points apiece.
The German team got a headstart into the game leading with as many as 11 points in the first quarter (23-12), though Zenit quickly bounced back to even the score at 34 points at halftime. With the two teams battling head-to-head, Tamir Blatt (8 points) gave the hosts a three-point breather to enter the last quarter with a 51-48 lead and never lost track since.
“We improved a lot in the third quarter – playing tougher, playing harder and controlling the defensive rebounds”, said coach Israel Gonzalez. “That was very important as well. I would like to play like this, sharing the ball. If we can have one guy step up one game and another the next game that would be very good for us”.
ALBA evened the regular-season series against the Russian side (Zenit has won their Round 10 meeting 75-66) to improve to an 8-16 record in the EuroLeague standings.
Mindaugas Kuzmiskas and Billy Baron led all scorers of the game, scoring 18 points each, and Jordan Mickey followed with 10 points.
Xavi Pascual’s squad has suffered its second defeat in a row to fall to a 14-9 record as the battle of the playoffs is starting to heat up.
Photo credit: EuroLeague