On January 11, MINSK met Zenit in a VTB United League match in St. Petersburg. The home team continued their winning streak and ended the match with a score 96:69 (28:13, 24:17, 30:11, 14:28).
Starting five:
MINSK: Daniil Kasko, Jarred Ognugbemi-Jackson, Vadzim Stubeda, Benjamin-Pavel Dodoo, Dmitri Kuratnik.
Zenit: Trent Fraser, Sergey Karasev, Artem Klimenko, Andrey Zubkov, Kyle Kurich.
Game scenario
Xavier Pascual's team, whose injured players returned to the ranks, showed a confident start, making a breakthrough of 6 points. Minsk residents were accompanied by offensive blunders in the first quarter: 5 players of our team scored hits in the Zenit ring, and the opponents left with a score of 28:13 at the first break.
In the second quarter, Daniil Kasko scored as a member of the Minsk team, who alone managed to score 9 points in the team standings. Our team also began to demonstrate a more accurate percentage of hits from behind the arc, and in addition to Daniil Kasko, Daniil Barysevich and Dmitri Kuratnik scored bright “three-point” shots. The teams went to the big break with a score of 52:30.
Demonstrating a higher percentage of hits, the Russian opponent continued his confident struggle in the second half of the meeting. In the third quarter, Aleksandar Zecevic and Dmitri Kuratnik scored accurate hits in our team again. In the final 10 minutes of the match, Minsk residents entered into an active struggle, making more effective attacks than Zenit. However, the final score remained in favor of the St. Petersburg team – 96:69.
The most productive:
MINSK: Daniil Kasko – 13 + 2 REB + 2 AST, Aleksandar Zecevic – 13 + 6 REB, Daniil Barysevich – 9 + 1 AST+ 1 STL.
Zenit: Adrien Moerman – 16 + 3 REB + 1 AST+ 3 STL + 1 block, Trent Fraser – 15 + 1 REB + 4 AST + 1 STL, Kyle Kuric – 13 + 2 REB + 2 AST + 1 STL + 1 block.
Acting head coach of MINSK Alexey Sukhovetsky: “First of all, congratulations to Zenit on the victory. They have demonstrated a really high level today. We failed to impose the fight from the very beginning, the leaders and snipers were released. We tried to play close, break combinations, but we were still one step behind, and the opponent had enough space to lead with an advantage of 10 points in the first 5 minutes and gain additional confidence. They were able to disrupt our interaction. We used a wide rotation to distribute time between the players. But, I repeat, Zenit showed a championship game today.“
Our men's team is returning home and on Sunday, January 14, they will play a match against the IBA at the Falcon Club Arena. The match starts at 15:00. Tickets for the game are available on the website and at points of sale kvitki.by , as well as in the lobby of the arena on match day from 13:30. Let's support MINSK together!