By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Errick McCollum scored 21 points on 7/10 shots to as Unics Kazan came back from down 14 to beat Zenit St. Petersburg 86 – 75 on the road in the VTB League Game of the Week.
Zenit went up 51 – 37 at the beginning of the second half after a basket by Austin Hollins. Unics proceeded to react with a 0 – 18 run that handed them a 62 – 68 lead in the end of the third quarter. Dimitris Priftis’ players never looked back and remained up for the remainder of the game.
Jamar Smith contributed 17 points and five rebounds to Unics’ win while Alex Tyus scored 15. Hollins had 15 points, Andrew Albicy 12 and Anton Ponkrashov 11 for Zenit that was coming off a triumph over Olympiacos for EuroLeague.
Powerhouses on a roll
The rest of the VTB title contenders resumed their league games with victories. Some had to counter some strong resistance before reaching their goal.
Reigning champion CSKA Moscow defeated Nizhny Novgorod after struggling quite a bit in the first half, where the hosts put on a rather competitive argument on the floor. After the break, the superior quality of CSKA took over.
The game was quite the dunkathon.
Three injured players? “So, what” would probably be the most likely answer by the rest of the Khimki guys. Despite missing arch-scorer Alexey Shved, energy-packed forward Jeremy Evans and all-around anchor Anthony Gill, Khimki Moscow downed Tsmoki Minsk away from home to remain by far the team with the best record in the league.
It was all about stepping up for Rimas Kurtinaitis’ squad. Devin Booker did so big time with 22 points on top-notch shooting (9/12 field goals, 10/13 free throws) as did Jonas Jerebko (15 points).
Johnny B. Goode
… Chuck Berry sang once upon a time. Well, Lokomotiv’s Johnny O’Bryant didn’t exactly appear “nice” against Enisey, since he poured 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in less than 26 minutes. He was rather unstoppable.
VTB League Results:
Lokomotiv Kuban – Enisey 94 – 79 (O’Bryant 24, Gudumak 14)
Astana – Zielona Gora 92 – 80 (Hill 25, Radic 29)
Avtodor Saratov – Parma 78 – 85 (Starks 18, Mejeris 23)
Nizhny Novgorod – CSKA Moscow – 84 – 93 (Strebkov 20, Voigtmann 15)
Tsmoki Minsk – Khimki Moscow 80 – 94 (Burnett 17, Booker 22)
Zenit St. Petersburg – Unics Kazan 75 – 86 (McCollum 21, Hollins 15)
VTB League Standings:
1. Khimki 14-1
2. CSKA 12-4
3. Lokomotiv-Kuban 11-4
4. UNICS 9-5
5. Astana 6-7
6. Kalev 6-8
7. Zenit 6-8
8. Enisey 6-8
9. Stelmet Zielona Gora 6-9
10. PARMA 6-9
11. Nizhny Novgorod 5-9
12. Avtodor 4-10
13. Tsmoki-Minsk 3-12
Photo: Unics Kazan