Conner Frankamp shines, Zenit get the third EuroLeague win in a row beating Olympiacos / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Sergey Grachev/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Sergey Grachev/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Zenit Saint Petersburg (6-3) prevailed Olympiacos Piraeus (6-3) 84-78 (25-22, 24-21, 9-14, 26-21) to extend their successful winning stretch to three victories and break Olympiacos' three-game winning streak.

Player of the Game EFF 13 Mateusz Ponitka Points 7 Accuracy 3-3 Rebounds 3 Assists 3

The game was close in the first three quarters, as Zenit were leading all the time. Their biggest advantage reached the apex of 8 points.

Xavi Pascual's team built the same 8-point lead (67-59) in the fourth period with 7:25 to play. Billy Baron hit the trey and Alex Poythress added the two-pointer.

Both clubs kept trading buckets. However, after Kostas Sloukas three, OLY's deficit was only five points (71-76) with 2 minutes to go.

Nevertheless, on the other side, Andrey Zubkov scored a duo, while Sasha Vezenkov lost the ball. Billy Baron hit a two-pointer and the margin between the teams was 9 points (90-81). 1:24 were left on the clock.

Kostas Sloukas converted both free throws (73-80) but Mateusz Ponitka sealed the deal with a successful two-pointer (82-73) on the other end.

Conner Frankamp was a top scorer for Zenit, registering 16 points (2/3 2PT, 4/5 3PT), 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 block, and 12 PIR.

“It’s a game we played very well for 30 minutes. We had 11 turnovers but 7 were in the third quarter and in the third period we didn’t play well,” said Xavi Pascual post-game.

“We started to make turnovers, didn’t control the rhythm. We played very badly. But the rest of the game, I think, we deserved this win offensively and defensively, we understood what we wanted, we followed the plan and in the last quarter, we finished the game,” added the Spanish mastermind.

Thomas Walkup led the route for OLY, posting 17 points (4/8 2PT, 3/6 3PT, 0/1 FT), 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 4 drawn fouls, and 16 PIR.

Georgios Bartzokas did not say much after the loss: “We improved our defense in the third quarter, when they scored 9 points, but finally we didn’t manage to win this game because we missed a lot of open shots.”

Zenit: Conner Frankamp 16, Billy Baron 14 (4 AST), Mindaugas Kuzminskas 12 (3 REB), Jordan Loyd 12 (5 AST, 3 TO).

Olympiacos: Thomas Walkup 17 (3 REB), Kostas Sloukas 13 (3 AST, 19 PIR), Moustapha Fall 13 (6 REB, 2 BLK, 19 PIR), Tyler Dorsey 11 (3 AST).

Highlights

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