CSKA defeated UNICS at home, 92-88 (23-19, 27-28, 21-16, 21-25).
Top Scorers
CSKA: Nando De Colo (23+6 ast), Milos Teodosic (19+10 ast), Kyle Hines (11), Viktor Khryapa (9+6 reb)
UNICS: Keith Langford (20), Artsiom Parakhouski (17+5 reb), Latavious Williams (11+6 reb)
Build-Up
CSKA took an early 22-13 lead, sparked by Milos Teodosic’s magic playmaking.
UNICS battled back by getting to the line, cutting the deficit to four, 23-19, at the end of the first period.
A flurry of 3-pointers to start the 2nd quarter, capped by Latavious Williams’s dunk, put the visitors on top, 35-33, with 5:30 to go in the half.
Kazan finished with seven 3-pointers in the quarter, leading 47-44 with two minutes to go until the break.
But De Colo scored the final six points of the half, knocking down three free throws and 3-pointer to make it a 50-47 game.
Turning Point I
CSKA jumped on the visitors to start the second half. Kyle Hines made it a seven-point game, 56-49, with this monster jam over Artsiom Parakhouski.
The Army Men pushed the lead to 14, 63-49, before Keith Langford finally stopped the bleeding for UNICS, scoring six straight to make it an eight-point game.
Turning Point II
Trailing by eight to start the 4th quarter, 71-63, Parakhouski scored six in a row to get the visitors within two.
Quino Colom even briefly put UNICS on top, drilling a 3-pointer with 6:26 to go that made it 74-73.
CSKA, however, answered back with a 7-0 run and never trailed again.
Kazan battled until the final whistle, trailing by only three points with 1:20 remaining. Each time, the home team responded.
Teodosic hit perhaps the biggest shot of the game, giving CSKA a six-point lead with a minute to go after Langford had cut the deficit to a single possession.
Moscow defends its home court, 92-88, and improves to 16-2, one game ahead of 2nd-place Zenit in the race for the top seed.
UNICS drops to 11-7 and has now lost six of its last seven.
Stat
29 – CSKA dished out 29 assists, led by Teodosic’s 10 and De Colo’s 6. That’s good for 4th-most in the League this season.
Quotes
CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis:
– Congratulations to the players on the win. We are finding success during a stretch of very tough games and managed to win a tough battle. This was a game that could have gone both ways. UNICS played well today, like in Athens, and deserves praise. We had to switch our defense often, especially after the 2nd quarter, when our opponents hit seven of 10 3-pointers. At the same time, we did a good job scoring inside the arc, grabbed some offensive rebounds and found a way to win.
UNICS head coach Evgeny Pashutin:
– It’s always difficult playing in Moscow. After all, CSKA is the top team in European basketball and boasts a balanced roster, plus everyone’s healthy now. They showed their strength today, especially on defense. I think we looked respectable. Our goal was to slow our opponent down, keep them from getting open layups and hurt their field-goal percentage. We did a pretty good job on the perimeter and didn’t let their leaders get hot. We put a lot of pressure on them. At the same time, we lost the rebounding battle, especially on long bounces. We were only able to fix the situation by going with two centers, Parakhouski and Williams. I’d like to comment about everyone. It was a worthy game. We need to approach the playoffs with the same attitude.
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Up Next
CSKA: March 5 at Nizhny Novgorod
UNICS: March 7 at Kalev
