By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
CSKA Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg tipped off the new VTB League season with respective victories, while Khimki suffered back-to-back defeats in the opening week.
Khimki Moscow – Zenit Saint Petersburg 67-79
The 2020-21 VTB United League tipped off on Sunday (September 20) as Zenit Saint Petersburg, thanks to a late surge (28-12 in the fourth quarter), logged a 79-67 win over Khimki Moscow.
Billy Baron banked 16 points in his first official game for Zenit while Will Thomas and KC Rivers added 11 each. For Khimki, Dairis Bertans scored 12 in addition to Jordan Mickey’s ten points.
Both squads weren’t playing with full rosters as Alexey Shved, Errick McCollum and Stefan Jovic weren’t available to Khimki while Kevin Pangos and Arturas Gudaitis didn’t suit up for Zenit.
Astana – CSKA Moscow 60-93
A few days later, CSKA Moscow stepped on the court and logged a big 93-60 win against Astana to start their VTB campaign.
Mike James was on fire with 21 points on 8-9 shooting while also dishing ten assists and grabbing four rebounds – a total of 35 PIR. And all of it in 19 minutes on the floor.
Nikola Milutinov logged a double-double as well with 15 points and 12 rebounds followed by Joel Bolomboy’s 15 points and eight boards.
On the other side, Michael Thompson scored 17 and Jeremiah Hill 12 points.
Nizhny Novgorod – Khimki Moscow 96-85
With a somewhat sped-up schedule, Khimki Moscow suffered another loss, this time Nizhny Novgorod was the one to deal the blow with 96-85.
Anton Astapkovich was leading the charge with 34 points on 6-9 from deep followed by Kasey Shepherd with 30 points. Artem Komolov added 13.
For Khimki, which has not yet returned to full strength and misses some important pieces, Greg Monroe logged 21 points and nine boards while Dairis Bertans had 18 points and 11 assists.
Zenit Saint Petersburg – Zielona Gora 83-74
Zenit, on the other hand, grabbed its second win at the start of the season with 83-74 against Zielona Gora.
The newcomer Billy Baron was once again the leading scorer with 26 points on 6-7 from three-point range while Alex Poythress scored 14 and Mateusz Ponitka 13 points.
For Zielona Gora, Iffe Lundberg banked 27 in addition to Geoffrey Grosselle’s 17 and Marcel Ponitka’s 11 points.
Photo Credit: VTB United League