By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Billy Baron and Jordan Loyd scored 18 points apiece as Zenit St. Petersburg defeated Avtodor Saratov 93 – 75 away from home to climb to the second place in the VTB League standings.
Baron went off in the first half by dropping 17 points on 5-5 triples in less than six minutes (!). He entered the floor with Zenit down 29 – 30 two minutes before the end of the first quarter and began firing 3-pointers at will to score 17 in the mid of the first period while his team went up 30 – 39.
Zenit remained up and turned the game into a blowout affair in the fourth period with Loyd taking over and his team going up even by 25 points, 93 – 68 with two minutes to play.
Alex Poythress (14 points, six rebounds) and Jordan Mickey (14 points, five assists) completed the winning equation for Zenit.
Saratov dropped to 8-3 and the fourth spot after this result. Kenny Cherry had 16 points and six rebounds while Jaron Johnson posted 16 points plus six boards as well.
Thanks to a 14-0 run down the stretch, UNICS Kazan clinched the away win, 85-80, versus Enea Zastal Zielona Gora to improve its league-leading record to 10-2.
John Brown III registered 20 points, including five in the winning sprint for the team coached by Velimir Perasovic. The former High Point standout added nine rebounds, five rebounds, three steals, and one block to his latest stuffed stat sheet.
Mario Hezonja had 19 points and Isaiah Canaan generated 17 more points. Lorenzo Brown chipped in 12 points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
Dragan Apic posted a 20-point, 12-rebound double-double in the losing effort. The bottom-placed Polish team dropped to 1-10.
Sunday results:
Avtodor Saratov – Zenit Saint Petersburg 75-93
Enea Zastal Zielona Gora – UNICS Kazan 80-85
Photo: VTB League