By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milano stepped foot into 2020 on a good note with a 73-72 victory against Zenit St. Petersburg at home, for Round 17 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
The two teams entered the last minutes of the game with the hosts leading by three (71-68) after a shot by Arturas Gudaitis. Gustavo Ayon missed the chance to cut the lead to one point and Luis Scola had the chance to seal the deal.
However, he missed a crucial three with 13 seconds left, Zenit got the ball Austin Hollins was fouled with three seconds left. He made one out of two from the free throws line (71-69) and Kaleb Tarczewski was immediately fouled. Milano‘s big man made his two shots (73-69) and Vladislav Trushkin made a three at the buzzer which couldn’t save the day for Zenit.
Milan got a breather in the chase of a playoffs spot and improved its record to 9-8, while Zenit remains at the bottom of the standings with a 4-13 record.
Despite being two teams with entirely different goals, Zenit didn’t let go of the pressure throughout the game.
Milan had lost six of its last seven games and had to snap back at home, and so they did with the help of Vladimir Micov (13 points), Tarczewski (11 points, 9 rebounds) and Scola (10 points).
“It was foreseeable”
Milano which was coming from a domestic league defeat to 7Days EuroCup contender Virtus Bologna is struggling and that’s why the hard night at home was not unexpected.
“It was not an easy game, it was foreseeable because we were coming from a bad championship performance that sent us nervousness. It was seen in the shooting percentages. But it was a EuroLeague game, against an aggressive team, we obviously needed to win and it was important to have done so”, commented coach Ettore Messina after the game.
Zenit’s Ayon posted a team-high performance of 15 points and seven rebounds, followed by Hollins who tapped 14 points.
Photo: EuroLeague