Zenit no match for Astana despite 19 from Poythress / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Basketnews/D.Repečka Credit Basketnews/D.Repečka

Zenit St. Petersburg (1-1) finished their second game at the VTB United League, losing to their rivals from Kazakhstan, BC Astana (1-0) 69-83 (15-25, 29-14, 11-26, 14-18).

Free throws this season

92%12,0Points made:12,0Accuracy:92,3%Place in standings:6Record max:12Record min:12Most made FTs:Conner FrankampTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

Zenit got punched in the mouth in the first quarter, going down 5-17. They finished the period down by 10 (15-25).

However, Poythress, Ponitka, and Kuzminskas kicked off the second quarter with a 14-3 run to give Zenit a one-point lead (29-28). They ended up with a five-point advantage going into halftime (44-39).

Astana were once again exceptional in the third, starting with a 12-0 run to regain an eight-point lead (44-51). They were down by 10 going into the fourth, where Astana's advantage continued to balloon.

Their lead reached 17 at one point, and even though Zenit tried to make a final push, Astana won by 14.

Zenit:Alex Poythress 19, Jordan Loyd 14, Mindaugas Kuzminskas 9, Dmitriy Kulagin 7, Andrey Zubkov 6, Conner Frankamp 5, Mateusz Ponitka 4, Arturas Gudaitis 3,Anton Pushkov 2.

Astana: Jaylen Barford 24, Anthony Hickey 15, Maxim Marchuk 11, Nikolay Bazhin 11.Mark Tikhonenko 9.

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