UNICS beat MBA in Moscow – 85:62 (25:22, 24:17, 16:13, 20:10).
Game progress
The start of the game was equal. During the first quarter, the lead changed 8 times and although UNICS had the last word (Viacheslav Zaitsev scored a buzzer beater), the hosts had the lead – 25:22. However, in the second quarter, the Kazan team played through Jalen Reynolds personally, which helped to take a double-digit lead by the halftime – 49:39.
Key moment
The guests continued to hold the lead. Although the Moscow team still had hopes for a comeback, Erick Green and Louis Labeyrie long-range shots extended the lead to 19 points at the start of the final quarter. UNICS got the second win in a row and continuing to purchase CSKA in the standings.
X-factor
Velimir Perasovic once again opted to leave Labeyrie and Reynolds out of the starting five. That decision paid off – bigmen duo came off the bench, gave UNICS a powerful impact and MBA defense had a lot of trouble. As a result, the guests’ bench players outscored their the opponents 43:18, and Reynolds played his best game since December 11.
Fact
The last time UNICS won by 20 or more points a month ago, on December 24 against Samara.
For the 8th time this season, the Kazan team didn’t allow their opponent to score more than 70 points. In the second half, MBA managed to score only 1 more point than in the first quarter.
Leaders
MBA: Andrey Lopatin (13), Evgeny Minchenko (13 + 6 rebounds), Vladislav Trushkin (10), Daniil Kasatkin (9 + 6 rebounds + 8 assists).
UNICS: Jalen Reynolds (19), Marcos Knight (13 + 5 rebounds + 5 assists), Ismael Bako (12 + 7 rebounds + 3 steals), Erick Green (11), Louis Labeyrie (8 + 6 rebounds), Dmitry Kulagin (8 + 5 rebounds).
What’s next
MBA (8-16): January 27 at home versus CSKA
UNICS (18-6): January 27 at home against Avtodor.
