Maccabi Tel Aviv has been in poor shape recently and is already counting six Euroleague losses in a row. Now the Yellows are hosted by Zenit St. Petersburg with the goal of getting back to winning and starting to emerge from the crisis.
The Russians come after two consecutive away victories, which interrupted for them a streak of three losses, while the Israeli champion with five consecutive away losses in the Euroleague and a 6: 2 balance away this season (defeated Wheelerban and Basconia away). Last season, Zenit twice defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv, including a sharp 69:86 in Russia in the round before the last of the season.
Jordan Lloyd, a Zenith player who was in doubt for the encounter, was eventually included in the squad, but Jordan Mickey will be absent from the encounter.
First quarter
Zenit came up in the top five with Jordan Lloyd, Sergei Kratzev, Andrei Zubkov, Matos Ponitka and Arthurs Godaitis, while Maccabi Tel Aviv came up with Keinan Evans, Scotty Wilbkin, Cameron Taylor, Jake Cohen and Ante Zizic. The Yellows scored only two points after three minutes, Cohen in the play-off was the only one, but fortunately Zenit was also 1 of 4 for two and led 2: 5. Zizic shrank from the line to 5: 4, but Lloyd immediately punished with a half-distance basket, Zubkov Dyke out of the arc and 4:34 minutes later the local advantage stood at 4:10. Taylor shrank, but Lloyd scored a third three for Zenit, Evans lost a ball and committed an offense, Billy Baron Dyke also scored three on his first touch and the Russians ran to 6:16 after six minutes in the quarter. If the Yellows’ opening wasn’t bad enough, Zizic committed an offense, Derrick Williams missed a three with the end of the clock and from the other side Zubkov scored his second and Zenit’s fifth three in the game en route to 6:21, with two minutes left in the quarter. Jaylen Reynolds with four straight points failed to minimize damage and 10 minutes later the scoreboard showed 10:25 to Zenit. The Yellows lost seven balls in the first quarter and missed all three attempts for three.
Second quarter
The quarter started with a fumble by John Dibertolomeo and a nice assist from Wilbkin to Nanley, but as in the first 10 minutes, Zenit’s range from outside the arc continued with a basket by Baron that raised the gap to 12:28. Zenit continued to throw for three, but consecutive fouls by Kratzb and Baron allowed Reynolds and Williams to shrink to 30:18. Zenit went on a timeout and came back from it with a basket by Alex Poiters and a third three by Zubkov, stopped Maccabi Tel Aviv two and a half minutes without a basket and forced Sapropolos to call a timeout 37:21, when the scoreboard showed 4:31 minutes to half.