Today, on April 13, in the penultimate match of the VTB United League regular season, "Tsmoki-Minsk" met with one of the main favorites of the season — "Zenit" St. Petersburg. In a spectacular fight, “Tsmoki” failed to cope with the opponent — the match ended with a score 93:73 (21:15, 36:23, 21:20, 15:15).
The starting five
"Tsmoki-Minsk": Aliaksei Trastsinetski, Darol Hernandez-Zinenko, Yauheni Beliankou, Maksim Karattsou, Uladzislau Blizniuk.
"Zenit": Sergey Karasev, Dmitry Kulagin, Aaron Carver, Egor Vyaltsev, Jordan Mickey.
Game scenario
Unfortunately, our team went to the playground today without Timafei Paraleu, who, due to a leg injury, could not defend the club's colors. With a scoring run of 5 points, "Zenit" seized the initiative at the start of the quarter, but Uladzislau Blizniuk, who took over the role of leader in the first ten minutes of the game, showed an incredible result against Russian players — in addition to bringing the first 5 points to the team and winning back the difference in the score, the Belarusian defender brought out "Tsmoki" with another hit forward — 7:5. At 5:23, “Tsmoki-Minsk” were already leading by 3 points — 10:7. At this moment, the St. Petersburg legionnaires joined the game, which brought "Zenit" to the advantage. Daniil Kasko and Daniil Barysevich scored in the first quarter with shots from an average distance, but this did not help to recoup by the first siren — 21:15.
In the second quarter, the hosts started the quarter again with accurate hits and an increase in the score in their favor — 26:17. The "dragons" did not give the opportunity to increase the blue-white-blue gap to 10 points — with two “three point shot” Uladzislau Blizniuk and Daniil Barysevich reduced the backlog. After another accurate throw into our ring from behind the arc, Rostislav Vergun took a timeout. Despite the tough pressure of the opponent, “Tsmoki” managed to realize 5 of 8 three-point shots in the second quarter. Unfortunately, the favorites of the season similarly were not going to give up their positions — the teams left for the big break with a score of 57:38.
In the third quarter, "Zenit" turned on even more powerful pressure, but our athletes kept a decent response – Yauheni Beliankou in one scoring run brought the team 5 points. St. Petersburg players showed a high percentage of rebounds, and the difference in the score began to increase. At 5:37, "Zenit" gained an advantage of 21 points — 68:47. The dragons tried to catch up with their opponent — Darol Hernandez-Zinenko made 3 of 3 shots from an average distance in a quarter. However, at the end of the third quarter with an accurate “buzzer” Denis Zakharov secured his team's lead of 20 points — 78:58.
Denouement
The final quarter, unfortunately, continued a series of accurate shots from "Zenit". So, in the first minutes of the quarter, the St. Petersburg team made a breakthrough 6:0. The leader of today's match among the “Tsmoki”Uladzislau Blizniuk again interrupted the opponent's series of hits and brought his team 4 points in return. Unfortunately, the Dragons' attempts to make three-pointers in the last ten minutes of the game were mostly unsuccessful. Only two minutes before the end of the game, Yauheni Beliankou proved to be accurate when throwing from behind the arc. The teams finished the match with a score of 93:73.
Prominent roles
Uladzislau Blizniuk scored 20 points per game with a utility coefficient of 17. Billy Baron updated his personal record for points scored in the VTB United League – 28 (previous – 27).
Figure
20 — exactly so many devoted fans from the fan club of the Belarusian team came to support our athletes in St. Petersburg at the penultimate away match.
The most productive
"Tsmoki-Minsk": Uladzislau Blizniuk — 20 + 2 REB + 4 AST, Yauheni Beliankou — 19 + 3 REB + 1 AST + 1 STL, Daniil Barysevich — 11 + 4 REB + 1 AST + 1 STL.
Zenit: Billy Baron - 28 + 3 REB + 2 AST + 2 STL, Jordan Mickey — 15 + 4 REB + 1 STL, Tyson Carter — 13 + 5 AST + 3 STL.
Rostislav Vergun, Head coach of Tsmoki-Minsk:
— Despite the difference in the score, I must note that our team has improved compared to the previous match. I am very happy with the progress that our players are showing. I think that with such a game, we have every reason to think about further progress in the VTB United League. We played against a very organized opponent. I wish them good luck in the future. I am sure that there will be very interesting matches in the playoffs. I would highlight the level of players that allows you to decide the outcome of the duel in your favor. It's a huge honor for us, and it's very important for me that the players understand and accept the chance they have. They get a tremendous experience playing with such an opponent.
Next game
On April 16, "Tsmoki-Minsk" will meet with the leaders of the current season – CSKA. At the home arena of the Moscow club, both teams will play the final matches of the regular season of the VTB United League. It starts at 2.00 PM.