By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Valencia Basket bounced back in the second half and caught fire in the final period on their way to a 94-90 home win over Zenit St Petersburg. Valencia improved to 3-6 while Zenit now holds a 2-7 record.
Despite a valiant effort by Alex Renfroe who scored all 17 of his points for Zenit in the fourth quarter, Valencia was just too ‘hot’ banking eight out of ten three-pointers to grab the win.
Alberto Abalde scored 18 for the victors followed by Jorda Loyd’s 17 and Mike Tobey’s 12 points.
For Zenit, apart from Renfroe, Will Thomas had a good night with 17 points in addition to Gustavo Ayon’s 13 points.
“It was amazing. Full team effort, coaches included. When the times were hard, we stayed together, stayed positive and just tried to play hard defense when it counted. Everybody was on fire, man [in the fourth quarter], it was three for us, three for them… but luckily, we had a few more and got the victory. We are just happy to get this win, especially at home”, Loyd said post-game.
Both squads had some trouble making their outside shots early on as Zenit had the minimal 16-15 lead after the first quarter and led by Thomas’ 11 points, went to the halftime rest with a 38-33 advantage.
Big rotation worked
Valencia coach Jaume Ponsarnau noted that having a big rotation is very important to him: “My players didn’t find their best inspiration in the first half. We improved our activity and controlled the rebounds in the second half, and even had more offensive rebounds than them. Thanks to this situation, we changed the feel of the game and we changed the score. In the last quarter, our three-point efficiency decided the game. I believe we have reached this double-round week at a moment in the season when we have more players involved, even with Sam’s (Van Rossom) injury, and ready to help. That is what we have to keep looking for. We highlighted Vanja’s (Marinkovic) work in our last game, today it is Alberto (Abalde) and Jordan (Loyd).”
Zenit reached the double-digit lead (57-46) after the break but San Emeterio sparked Valencia’s 8-0 run which kept them in the game (57-54). The Spaniards kept riding the momentum and eventually grabbed the win thanks to great three-point shooting.