UNICS defeated PARMA at home – 89:71 (14:14, 23:19, 23:17, 29:21).
Game progress
In the first quarter, the guests did everything to ruin UNICS’ offensive play. The Kazan team managed to take a 7-point lead, but PARMA added defense, and Samson Ruzhentsev and Ivan Egorov restored the tie – 14:14. Evgeny Pashutin team even led for most of the second quarter, but UNICS gradually began to take the initiative. Shortly before the halftime, Dmitry Kulagin and Jalen Reynolds made a 7:3 run, which helped the home team to get a slight lead – 37:33.
Key moment
The second half started bad for the Perm team, as Andrei Lopatin and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell made it a double-digit for the first time in the game (46:35). PARMA quickly adapted to such game and got closer, but UNICS kept pushing. Akoon-Purcell made three-pointer and started another run that restored a 10-point difference (60-50). The Kazan team controlled the game with confidence and got the win.
X-factor
UNICS’ defense has traditionally been the key reason for the win. Although PARMA kept pace in most of the game, the shooting percentage steadily went down. As a result, the Perm team made just 38.7%, while UNICS was much more efficient – 53.3%.
Facts
UNICS won the season series against the Perm team, and the last win was the biggest in rivalry history of this regular season. The February matchup was the toughest, with Velimir Perasovic team winning by 1 point (93-92).
UNICS’ winning streak in Kazan has reached 10 games.
Leaders
UNICS: DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell (23), Marcos Knight (18 + 5 assists), Louis Labeyrie (14 + 6 rebounds), Dmitry Kulagin (11), Andrey Lopatin (10 + 6 rebounds), Ismael Bako (4 + 8 rebounds).
PARMA: Royce Hamm (19 + 5 rebounds), Aleksandr Zakharov (16 + 5 rebounds), Samson Ruzhentsev (10 + 6 rebounds + 5 assists), Stanislav Ilnitskiy (5 + 6 rebounds).
What’s next
UNICS: March 16 on the road against Samara
PARMA: March 11 at home versus Astana.
