CSKA — Zenit, 25 May 2019

In the VTB League semifinal Game 2 Zenit kept it close until the last moments but Hines’ defense let our team win.

CSKA vs. Zenit St.Petersburg: 83-81 (+2)

CSKA: Clyburn (19 + 4 rb + 2 as), Higgins (4 + 2 as + 4 pf), Hackett (10 + 3 rb + 2 as + 3 to), Kurbanov (11 + 5 rb), Hunter (3 + 5 rb) – start; De Colo (10 + 4 as + 5 pf), Bolomboy (0), Khomenko (DNP), Ukhov (1), Antonov (11), Vorontsevich (4), Hines (10 + 6 rb + 3 as + 3 bs)…

Zenit: Karasev (9 + 4 pf), Mekel (7 + 4 rb + 8 as), Pushkov (12 + 7 rb + 5 pf), Voronov (8 + 3 to), Simonovic (5 + 8 rb + 3 as + 2 st) – start; Armand (12), Miller-McIntyre (14 + 4 as + 3 to), Balashov (0), Trushkin (0), Uthoff (4), Scrubb (0), Valiev (10 + 3 rb + 2 bs)…

Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

Congratulations to the team for the victory and desire not to give up. It was tough, we lacked energy. During this series – and I don’t use it as an excuse – we have many obligations, visits, though it’s a sweet hangover after big victory. Tomorrow we will have another visit [to the football game] to please our fans, so we will use this day to rest and rehab. We knew that it is not going to be easy, we expected Zenit to fight, they played on the level of foul, of allowed aggressiveness, sometimes even beyond this level. We know it is never easy in St.Petersburg. Still we haven’t met our potential tonight, we shot poorly with the opponent playing very physical.