UNICS beat Kalev at home — 71:54 (25:15, 17:11, 14:16, 15:12).
The best scorers
UNICS: Mario Hezonja (15 + 7 rebounds + 3 steals), Andrey Vorontsevich (11), John Brown III (10)
Kalev: Silas Melson (12), Davion Berry (11)
Game progress
The day before, Avtodor won its 6th game in a row, and UNICS had to beat Kalev in order to remain the leaders. The Kazan team made a significant bid for the final success already in the 1st quarter. Mario Hezonja provoking opponents to earn fouls, and John Brown III and Andrey Vorontsevich, who returned from injury, made UNICS advantage – 25:12. However, in the last minute of the quarter, Silas Melson scored 2 three-pointers in a row, reducing the gap of the guests.
In the 2nd quarter, UNICS somewhat slowed down the pressure on offense, but began to play even tighter defensively. Having allowed the opponent to score only 11 points in 10 minutes, UNICS held Kalev at a comfortable distance without any problems, and shortly before the halftime Artem Komolov brought the advantage of the hosts to the maximum in this game.
Some magic from Supermario 🪄🧙♂️ pic.twitter.com/BsuX76ogEa
— VTB League (@VTBUL) December 12, 2021
Hero
Mario Hezonja. With Kalev tight defense, the Croat made the most of his ability to find fouls when shooting, scoring 9 points out of 15 from the free-throw line. Hezonja was also noted for a number of other actions – he scored 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.
Numbers
23. Almost the 3rd of the 71 points scored by UNICS scored after the opponent’s turnovers.
What’s next
UNICS: road game against Zenit on December 26
Kalev: road game against Zielona Gora on January 8
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