UNICS defeated Zenit at home – 75:71 (16:22, 24:19, 18:12, 17:18).

Game progress

UNICS’ solid start didn’t discourage the guests: Zenit played tight defense and was able to take the initiative and had a 6-point lead by the end of the first quarter. The guests led for almost the entire first half, but Dmitry Kulagin 8 points in 3 minutes allowed the Kazan team to get closer to Zenit by halftime – 41:40.

The pause in the game energized DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, who put on a brilliant performance in the third quarter. His 11 points led Velimir Perasovic team to a lead heading into the final quarter – 58:53.

Key moment

The fourth quarter was very thigh. The Kazan team managed to shut down one of Zenit leading players Dwayne Bacon, who missed all of his shooting attempts, but Denis Zakharov kept the guests in the game.

Jalen Reynolds brought UNICS’ lead to 5 points with an incredible poster-dunk, and the game went into clutch. Zenit had a real opportunity to tie the game – Zakharov missed an open three-pointer. Then teams started to make tactical fouls, the Kazan team confidently got the win.

X-factor

UNICS’ defense coped with one of the best offensive teams in the VTB League, allowing the St. Petersburg team to score exactly the same as UNICS’ season average (71.0 points). The Kazan team also let Dwayne Bacon to make only 4 of 21 shots.

Facts

The MVP of December Marcos Knight proved that he’s going to claim this award in January as well – he became the best scoring player along with Akoon-Purcell, and he was just 1 rebound away from his first double-double of the season.

UNICS defeated the Top-4 opponent for the first time in the regular season at home.

Leaders

UNICS: Marcos Knight (18 + 9 rebounds + 3 steals), DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell (18), Tony Taylor (12), Andrey Lopatin (8 + 5 rebounds), Jalen Reynolds (3 + 6 rebounds), Mikhail Belenitskii (2 + 5 rebounds)

Zenit: Denis Zakharov (17), Dwayne Bacon (14), Xavier Moon (11), Alex Poythress (9 + 6 rebounds), Vince Hunter (5 + 6 rebounds), Sergey Karasev (2 + 6 rebounds)

What’s next

UNICS: January 8 on the road against Enisey

Zenit: January 8 on the road versus Samara.