Yovel Zoosman showed that he has taken a major step forward in ALBA Berlin’s 76-67 victory over Zenit St Petersburg as the Israeli rose to the occasion in the fourth quarter.
Zoosman took another step forward for ALBA
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For the game, Zoosman collected 9 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal for a performance index rating of 18. The 23-year-old forward, who is spending his first season outside his home country, was 2 points off his season high while he evened his season best in rebounds and the PIR was 2 better than his previous best in 2021-22 - albeit 4 off his all-time mark.
Zoosman has had a solid season but he is stepping up of late, scoring at least 8 points in the last three games and six of the last eight games. His two other top PIR marks came in that stretch as well - 16 versus AS Monaco and 14 against his former team, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv.
The forward played a big role in ALBA pulling away early in the fourth quarter against Zenit. He buried a three-pointer for a 57-51 lead and then added a layup and tip-in to extend the advantage back to 6 points and up to 7 points, respectively. And then with 87 seconds left in the game, Zoosman grabbed a rebound, pushed the ball forward and then tossed up an alley-oop to Ben Lammers for a 68-60 lead with just more than a minute to play.
Zoosman’s season numbers - 6.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists - do not scream out leader, but he has proven himself as a sniper from the outside with a 40.7% clip on three-pointers. And the game against Zenit was just the latest to show that he is also ready to take over more responsibility.