UNICS Russia defeated Kalev Estonia at home, 104-78 (30-12, 25-34, 28-18, 21-14).
Top Scorers
UNICS: Melvin Ejim (19 + 5 reb), Stephane Lasme (15 + 6 reb), Quino Colom (12 + 9 ast), Vladislav Trushkin (12), Evgeny Kolesnikov (11)
Kalev: Bojan Subotic (17), Branko Mirkovic (15 + 7 ast), Martin Dorbek (11), Erik Keedus (11)
Story
Kalev was a heavy underdog entering Sunday’s matchup in Kazan. The Estonians lost by 26 at home vs. Lokomotiv in the season opener, while UNICS stormed to a 34-point win over Zenit.
As expected, UNICS dominated in the early going. The home team shot 11-14, including 3-5 from beyond the arc, to run up a 30-12 lead after 10 minutes.
Kalev responded in the 2nd with an avalanche of 3-pointers. 2-8 from beyond the arc to start the game, Alar Varrak’s men drilled seven of nine in the quarter, pulling the visitors within nine at halftime, 55-46.
UNICS regained control in the 3rd quarter behind back-to-back 3-pointers from Vladislav Trushkin and Melvin Ejim and a return to basics on defense. After surrendering 34 points in the second period, Kazan held Kalev to only 32 points in the second half.
Coupled with rock-solid shooting–16-28 as a team over the final 20 minutes–UNICS had little trouble securing its second victory of the season. Kalev drops to 0-2 with the defeat.
Stat
31 – Kalev attempted 31 3-pointers, converting 13, including seven in the 2nd quarter. It wasn’t the worst tactic as the visitors scored 78 points, but the defense had no answers for Kazan’s red-hot shooting.
Quotes
UNICS head coach Dimitrios PRIFTIS:
– We started strong today. We were leading, then we let our opponent score some easy baskets. We also weren’t great on defense. We got lazy and lost our concentration. But we played better in the second half and deserved to win.
Kalev head coach Alar VARRAK:
– First of all, I want to congratulate UNICS on a good win. You have a much different team from the one you had 1-2 years ago. UNICS is better now. We needed to play our best today if we wanted a shot at winning. But we didn’t do that. UNICS started really well, while we were still figuring things out. We began to play better in the 2nd quarter. You need to understand that the Estonian league and VTB League are very different competitions. The competition in the VTB League is much tougher. These are top European teams. It’s not easy for us.
Up Next
UNICS: October 21 away vs. Lokomotiv-Kuban
Kalev: October 23 home vs. Parma
Snapshot
