Zenit St Petersburg turned to its defense to get back to winning, going on the road and downing LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 61-71 on Wednesday night. Zenit snapped its three-game losing streak and improved to 9-6 on the season while ASVEL dropped to 7-8. Zenit took control of the game at the start of the third quarter, which it opened with a 2-11 run, and never relinquished the lead.
Zenit beats ASVEL to snap losing streak, 61-71
Alex Poythress led all scorers with 16 points, while Jordan Loyd collected 15 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Billy Baron netted 14, and Jordan Mickey had 10 points and 7 rebounds in a victory. William Howard scored 12 and Chris Jones had 11 points for the hosts.
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Mickey hit a triple and a runner to open Zenit's tally, but put-backs from Victor Wembanyama and James Gist, followed by close-range baskets from Elie Okobo and Marcos Knight, put the hosts up 10-7. Zenit's big men Poythress and Mickey put the visitors in front. Howard scored twice for the hosts, but Baron knocked down 2 three-pointers to help Zenit to 18-21 after 10 minutes.
Baskets were few and far between in the first 6 minutes of the second quarter, during which the hosts put together a 6-0 run, delivering 4 blocked shots during that stretch. Arturas Gudaitis ended Zenit's scoring drought with a pair of dunks before Baron's triple made it 26-28. After Jones scored a reverse layup, Mickey and Knight traded tough jumpers, only for Baron to drive to the basket for a buzzer-beater to give Zenit 32-33 at halftime.
Zenit opened the second half with jumpers from Dmitry Kulagin and Poythress, as the visitors scored the first 7 points of the third quarter. A triple-plus-foul from Loyd made it 34-44. Dylan Osetkowski and Howard scored from close range, but Mateusz Ponitka's triple helped keep the margin at 40-49. ASVEL responded through Jones who scored 5 points, including a basket-plus-foul to cut it to 45-50. But Loyd answered with a three-pointer and helped the visitors take a 49-54 edge into the fourth quarter.
Poythress opened the fourth quarter with a layup, but a triple from Osetkowski - ASVEL's first of the night, got the hosts within 52-56. Andrey Zubkov beat the buzzer with a second-chance layup and a dunk from Poythress made it 53-62 midway through the fourth. Okobo had a layup and he fed Gist for a dunk, but Baron knocked down a three-pointer, and Poythress followed with an easy layup for a 10-point margin, 57-67. Gist and Okobo kept ASVEL's hopes alive, but a put-back dunk from Poythress in the penultimate minute sealed the outcome.